494 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



matted with sea-weeds in greater quantity. I have no doubt that they return 

 to the same nest many years in succession, and repair it as occasion requires. 

 In all the nests which I examined, only one egg was found, and as most of the 

 birds were sitting, and some of the eggs had the chicks nearly ready for ex- 

 clusion, it is probable that these birds raise only a single young one like the 

 Common Gannet or Solan Goose. The egg is of a dull white colour, without 

 spots, and about the size of that of a common hen, but more elongated, being 

 2§ inches in length, with a diameter of If. In some nests they were covered 

 with tilth from the parent bird, in the manner of the Florida Cormorant. The 

 young, which had an uncouth appearance, were covered with down ; the bill 

 and feet of a deep livid blue or indigo colour. On being touched, they emitted 

 no cry, but turned away their heads at every trial. A great quantity of fish 

 lay beneath the trees in a state of putrefaction, proving how abundantly the 

 young birds were supplied by their parents. Indeed, while we were on Noddy 

 Island, there was a constant succession of birds coming in from the sea with 

 food for their young, consisting chiefly of flying-fish and small mullets, which 

 they disgorged in a half macerated state into the open throats of their offspring. 

 Unfortunately the time afforded me on that coast was not sufficient to enable 

 me to trace the progress of their growth. I observed, however, that none of 

 the birds which were still brown had nests, and that they roosted apart, par- 

 ticularly on Booby Island, where also many barren ones usually resorted, to 

 lie on the sand and bask in the sun. 



The flight of the Booby is graceful and extremely protracted. They pass 

 swiftly at a height of from twenty yards to a foot or two from the surface, 

 often following the troughs of the waves to a considerable distance, their 

 wings extended at right angles to the body; then, without any apparent effort, 

 raising themselves and allowing the rolling waters to break beneath them, 

 when they tack about, and sweep along in a contrary direction in search of 

 food, much in the manner of the true Petrels. Now, if you follow an individual, 

 you see that it suddenly stops short, plunges headlong into the water, pierces 

 with its powerful beak and secures a fish, emerges again with inconceivable 

 ease, after a short interval rises on wing, performs a few wide circlings, and 

 makes off toward some shore. At this time its flight is different, being per- 

 formed by flappings for twenty or thirty paces, with alternate sailings of more 

 than double that space. When overloaded with food, they alight on the water, 

 where, if undisturbed, they appear to remain for hours at a time, probably 

 until digestion has afforded them relief. 



The range to which this species confines itself along our coast, seldom ex- 

 tends beyond Cape Hatteras to the eastward, but they become more and more 

 numerous the farther south we proceed. They breed abundantly on all such 

 islands or keys as are adapted for the purpose, on the southern and western 

 coasts of the Floridas and in the Gulf of Mexico, where I was told they breed 

 on the sand-bars. Their power of wing seems sufficient to enable them to brave 

 the tempest, while during a continuance of fair weather they venture to a great 

 distance seaward, and I have seen them fully 200 miles from the land. 



The expansibility of the gullet of this species enables it to swallow fishes of 

 considerable size, and on such occasions their mouth seems to spread to an un- 

 usual width. In the throats of several individuals that were shot as they were 

 returning to their nests, I found mullets measuring seven or eight inches, that 

 must have weighed fully half a pound. Their body beneath the skin, is covered 

 with numerous aircells, which probably assist them in raising or lowering 

 themselves while on wing, and perhaps still more so when on the point of per- 

 forming the rapid plunge by which they secure their prey. 



