8ULIDJE. 345 



according to Legge, is a harsh dissyllabic croak. The nest and 

 eggs are like those of Cormorants: 1 he breeding-season is July 

 and August in Northern India and Burma, January and February 

 in Madras and Ceylon. The birds breed in colonies, and generally 

 in company with Cormorants and Herons, on trees in or near 

 water, and the es:gs are three or four in number and measure 

 about 2-13 by 1'37. 



Family SULID^E. 



The Gannets or Boobies are black and white or brown and 

 white birds of considerable size, inhabiting the open sea, and 

 living on fish. They have a powerful pointed bill, and the outer 

 nostrils in adults are completely closed. Cervical vertebrae 18. 

 Ambiens, femoro-caudal, and semitendinosus muscles present, the 

 two accessory thigh-muscles absent. No syringeal muscles. 



There is only one genus. 



Genus SULA, Brisson, 1760. 



Bill strong, straight, compressed, pointed ; the culmen flattened, 

 broad at the base, curved at the end but not hooked ; upper 

 mandible with a linear groove on each side near the culmen ; 

 nostrils completely closed in adults, minute and basal in young 

 birds ; inner margins of both mandibles serrated, especially towards 

 the tip. Sides of head to behind the orbit, chin, and part 

 of throat naked, the feathered area ending on the throat, in all 

 Indian species, in a transverse line. Wings long, pointed ; tail 

 long, wedge-shaped. Tarsus short ; outer and middle toes equal ; 

 claw of middle toe broad and pectinated. 



About six species are known, including the Gannets, which 

 inhabit temperate regions and have a narrow naked strip running 

 down the middle of the throat, and the Boobies, which are tropical. 

 Three of the latter are said to be found in Indian seas. 



Key io the Species. 



a. Tail-feathers 14. 



a'. Head, neck, and upper parts brown in adults ; 



feet pale yellow & leucoy aster, p. 346. 



//. Head, neck, body, and tail white in adults ; 



feet red ....." S. pitcatrixj p. 347. 



b. Tail-feathers 16. 



c'. Head, neck, and body white in adults ; tail 



blackish ; feet slaty S. cyanops, p. 347. 



The members of this genus are said to be oceanic birds, but 

 they are more commonly found singly or in flocks about reefs and 

 islands, and they breed chiefly on isolated rocks in the sea, some- 



