Vol. X 



iQio^'] -Macgillivray, Along the Great Barrier Reef. 225 



and 3 or 4 inches in depth, sometimes with sticks, bits of coral, shells, 

 or dirt collected round them. Many are on bare coral rock, 

 or on the pig-face, flattened down. Most of the nests contain 

 a pair of eggs, there being great variation in the size and shape 

 of the eggs, though the two eggs in any one nest usually match. 

 The young birds are hatched with eyes closed, with only an indica- 

 tion of down on head, back, humeral, femoral, and each pectoral 

 region. The eyes open very soon, and the birds become covered 

 with whitish down at an early stage, the beak and legs being of 

 a pale slaty-grey, much the same colour as the naked skin ; 

 the gape also a pale slate colour. They grow almost to full 

 size before acquiring any feathers, the first to appear being 

 the primaries, then the scapulars and feathers of head, and 

 secondaries, with the tail feathers, this first feathering being of 

 a brownish-grey. This colour is general on head, back, and wings, 

 with dirty-greyish breast, abdomen, and under surface of wings 

 when they fly. The young birds hatched out often show great 

 disparity in size, one being hatched some days later than the other. 

 This usually results in only one surviving, as, in proportion to 

 the number of nests containing a pair of eggs, very few seem 

 to rear more than a single young one. The naked skin on the face 

 of the adult Brown Gannet shows a good deal of variation in 

 colour, some being of a greenish-yellow, others of quite a blue 

 colour. The Masked Gannet, a fine white bird, larger than the 

 other two, with dark pinions and conspicuous pale leaden- 

 coloured mask, comes next in numbers to the Brown Gannet, and 

 their nests and young are scattered amongst the others pro- 

 miscuously all over the islet. The nests, in size, formation, and 

 situation, differ in no wise from those of the Brown bird, being 

 mostly on the ground The eggs, larger in general than those of 

 the Brown, are almost invariably two in number. The nestling 

 ^lasked Gannet is much the same as that of the Brown, except 

 that the mask is decidedly darker in colour. The downy young 

 is pure white in colour, and, when feathered, a greyish or dirty 

 white, the mask getting lighter coloured as the bird matures. 

 The sitting birds of both species allow of a close approach, 

 becoming restless and picking up and throwing the sticks and 

 shells of the nest from side to side. When closer, they often 

 disgorge one or more good-sized fish, then run off the nest with 

 shuffling feet and flapping wings till they rise on the wing. This 

 disgorging is not done as a means of offence, the fish being given 

 more as an offering to distract the attention of an enemy from 

 themselves until escape is possible, or even from their young, 

 much in the same way as it is disgorged when the bird is 

 buffeted by a Frigate-Bird. The Red-legged Gannet nests in 

 groups in different parts of the island. All of the nests are placed 

 on the horizontal shrubby growth, and are a clear foot or more 

 from the ground. The nest consists of a substantial interwoven 

 platform of sticks, about 8 to 12 inches in diameter, depressed 

 to about an inch in the centre for the reception of the single egg. 



