228 FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS 



In the United States this bird is most at home in the rivers 

 and creeks of southern and central Florida, but it is also found 

 farther west, along the Gulf. It is abundant in the delta 

 of the Orinoco, in the Guianas and farther south. It lives well 

 in captivity, and when provided with a large glass tank is 

 quite willing to give daily exhibitions in diving after live fish. 

 In color the adult male is a glossy-black bird, and so is the 

 female, except that her entire neck is light brown. 



THE GANNET FAMILY 



Sulidae 



THE COMMON GANNET* is, in many respects, a bird of 

 very striking appearance. It is a goose-like bird, as large as 

 a medium-sized goose, and its prevailing colors are white 

 and a very beautiful ecru. Its plumage is as smooth and im- 

 maculate as the surface of a wooden decoy. It has a slow and 

 solemn manner, and has the least suspicion of man of any 

 swimming bird I know. Its head, neck and bill are massive, 

 the latter especially being long and very thick at the base. 

 The total length of this bird when adult is only a trifle under 

 three feet. 



Although the Common Gannet is strictly a bird of the 

 ocean coasts, and apparently never is seen inland, it is a 

 bird of such striking personality it well deserves to be 

 introduced in these pages. Any large bird which once ex- 

 isted in countless thousands on our coast, and has not yet 

 been exterminated, may well be known to every intelligent 

 American. 



1 Su'la bas-sa'na. 



