250 ZOOLOGY. 



Plumage uniformly gray-brown ; beak blue ; legs light- 

 yellow or lemon-colour. Stomach contained eight 

 flying-fish, and the beaks of cuttle-fish. 



Example C. In lat. 14 N., Pacific Ocean. Re- 

 sembles the preceding, with the exception that the 

 abdomen is white and the legs blue. 



Example D. In lat. 3<> N., Pacific Ocean. Back, 

 wings, and tail blue-gray or ash-colour; head, neck, 

 and abdomen white. Naked integuments of the head 

 blue. Legs red. 



Example E. In lat. 13^ N., Pacific Ocean. Back, 

 wings, and tail sooty- black ; head and neck gray ; ab- 

 domen white ; a black band across the neck, at its 

 junction with the shoulders. Beak and exposed skin 

 of the face slate-colour. Legs pea-green. Iris, a nar- 

 row silvery zone. 



All the above correspond in size and habits with the 

 common Booby (P. sula). They are heavy in flight, 

 and seldom seen far from land. When on the wing, 

 watching for fish, they turn their head about in a very 

 ludicrous manner, and occasionally dive to the surface 

 of the water and seize their prey with great dexterity. 

 They are stupidly tame, frequently alighting on the 

 rigging or bulwarks of ships, and permitting themselves 

 to be handled ; and this when neither distance from 

 land, repletion, nor the approach of night, can be as- 

 signed as an excuse for their familiarity. 



Berkenhout (Synopsis of Nat. Hist.) makes it a 

 part of the generic character of Pelicans, that they are 

 without external nostrils ; while Blumenbach (Manual 

 of Comparative Anatomy) asserts that all birds have 

 external nostrils, more or less conspicuous. Although 

 it is true that most of the Pelican family have small but 

 complete nostrils on the outer surface of the upper 



