370 BIRDS. 



Pel. carlo, L. ; Enl. 927; the young, Friscli, 187 and 188; and 

 Brit. Zool., pi. L, 1. (The Cormorant). Black-brown, undu- 

 lated with jet black on the back, and mixed with wdiite near the end 

 of the bill and front of the neck; circumference of the throat and the 

 cheeks white in the male, which also has a tuft on the occiput. Its 

 size is that of the goose. It breeds in holes among the rocks or upon 

 trees, and lays three or four eggs. 



Pel. graeulus, Gm.; Enl. 974, the young. (The Little Cormo- 

 rant). Is somewhat smaller, of a deeper black and more bronzed ; 

 no white on the front of the neck ; the feathers on the back more 

 pointed; not so common as the preceding species*. 



Tachypetes, Vieill. 



Tlie Frigate Birds differ from the Cormorants in their forked tail and 

 short feet, the membranes of which are deeply emarginated ; in an exces- 

 sive length of wing, and in a bill both of whose mandibles are curved at 

 the point. So powerful are their wings, that they fly to an immense dis- 

 tance from all land, principally between the tropics, darting upon the Fly- 

 ing Fish and striking the Boobies to make them disgorge their prey. 



One species only is well known, the Peleeanus aquilus, L. ; Enl. 

 961 ; Vieill. Gal., pi. 274, whose plumage is black, the under part 

 of the throat and neck more or less varied with white, and the bill 

 red. Its wings, when expanded, are said to measure from ten to 

 twelve feetf . 



SuL.\, Briss. — Dysporus, Illig. 



The Boobies J have a straight, slightly compressed, pointed bill, the 

 point slightly arcuated; its edges are serrated, the teeth inclining back- 

 wards; the nostrils are prolonged by a line which extends to near the 

 point. The throat is naked as well as the circumference of the eye, the 

 former not being susceptible of much dilatation; the nail of the middle 

 toe is serrated, the wings much smaller than those of the Frigates, and 

 the tail somewhat wedge-shaped. They are called Boobies on account of 

 the excessive stupidity wdth which they permit themselves to be attacked 

 by men and birds, the Frigate Birds particularly, which, as already stated, 

 force them to yield up the fish which they have captured. The most 

 common is, 



Peleeanus bassanus, L. ; Enl.. 278; Vieill.; Brit. Zool. pi. L; 

 Naum. Sup. 56, f, 106. Le Fou de Bassan. (The Common Booby). 

 White ; the primary quills of the wings and the feet black ; the bill 

 greenish; nearly as large as the goose. It is called the Bassan 



* Add the Cormoran longup., Tem. {Pel. cristatus, Olafs.), Voy. en Isl., tr. fr. pi. 

 xliv, Col. 322, and Vieill. Gal. 276;— Pe/. qfricanus, Lath.;— Sparm. Mus. Carls. 1, 

 10; — Pelec. pygmcciis, Pall. Voy. App., pi. 1. 



\ Naturalists have, somewhat gratuitously, raised to the rank of species the Pelec. 

 minor, Edw. 309, and 'Uucocephalus, Buff. Ois. VIII, pi. xxx, and perhaps even the 

 P. Palmerstvni, Lath. 



X Sula is the name of the common species at the Fero Islands, Hoyer, Clusius, 

 Exot. 36. Booby, their English name, from their stupidity, ut sup. 



