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GENUS SULA—BRISS. 



GANNET. 



[Bill robust, very stout at the base, conical; longer than the head — com- 

 pressed, and opening beyond the eyes ; neck rather short and full ; body 

 rather long ; face and throat naked ; pouch small ; wings long, acute ; tail 

 wedge shape ; feet short, robust ; tarsi very short ; toes four, webs broad.] 



SULA BASSANA—LINN. 



COMMON GANNET. 



Sula bassana, Bonaparte. 



Gannet, Sula bassana, Nuttall. 



Common Gannet, Sula bassana, Audubon. 



Specific Character — Bill with a greenish tinge toward the base; 

 general color of plumage white ; upper part of head and the hind 

 neck yellowish-brown ; primaries brownish-black, their shafts white 

 toward their bases; tail long, the feathers white, middle pair long- 

 est ; tarsi short. Young, in summer, with the head, neck, and low- 

 er parts mottled with grayish-brown ; upper parts brown, the feath- 

 ers marked with white. Length about forty inches, wing nineteen 

 inches and a half. 



Of this bird I received a fine specimen that was shot on the South 

 Bay, Long Island, opposite Bellport, and have seen a few others 

 that were procured in the vicinity of New-York. Its occurrence in 

 the bays and inlets is so rare, that it is not generally known to the 

 gunners, although " it ranges southward of the coast at all seasons, as 

 far as the Gulf of Mexico, and is said to breed on the rocks in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, and off the coast of Labrador." — Aud. Syn. 



The Gannets associate in large flocks, and take possession of the 

 rocks near the sea, sometimes collecting in such great numbers that 

 the whiteness of their plumage appears to a distant observer like a 

 bank of snow. It feeds chiefly on fish, which it procures by ho- 

 vering with still, expanded wings — falling on its prey while at 

 the surface of the water. It is common to both continents — and in. 

 England, I am informed, the young are esteemed as food, usually 

 eaten before dinner to invite the appetite. 

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