THE LACCADIVES AND THE WEST COAST. 485 
I have procured in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman, 
and which I fully described, loc. cté., as P. indicus. 
998.—Sula fiber, Zin. 
We met with this species only twice during our trip—once at 
Cherbaniani, where I failed to obtain a shot, and once at Pere- 
Mull-Par, where I saw and shot a single specimen, a female. 
This measured:—Length, 31°7; expanse, 62; tail, 3; wing, 
16:1; tarsus, 2; bill from gape, 5:1; bill at front, 4:1; the 
irides were white ; the bill creamy white with a bluish tinge in 
veins; the pouch, gape, lores, and orbital spaces, pale hoary 
greenish yellow; the legs and feet pale yellow, with a greenish 
tinge on tarsi; the claws white with a bluish tinge. The breast, 
abdomen, vent, and central lower tail coverts, axillaries, sides, 
flanks, a pure white; the whole of the rest of the bird a nearly 
uniform umber brown, only the feathers of the crown are just 
perceptibly, paler margined at the tips, and those at the base 
of the lower mandible and contiguous to the pouch are faintly 
speckled whitish ; the longer lateral lower tail coverts are paler 
brown and tipped whitish; the primary, lower wing coverts, 
and the lesser ones along the edge of the wing are the same 
brown as the rest of the bird, but the rest of the lower secondary 
and tertiary coverts are pure white. 
999.—Sula piscatrix, Lin. 
As already noticed (supra, p. 450,) I saw a large flock of 
White Boobies which, I believe, belonged to this species near Pere= 
Muli-Par. Ido not think that it could have been cyanops, 
because, as far I could make out, there was no black on the tails; 
in fact no black about them anywhere except on the ends of 
the wings. However, they were too far off to acquire any 
certainty about them; although I watched them with powerful 
binoculars off and on for fully an hour. Certainly they were 
Boobies and white; I myself have little doubt that they belonged 
to this species, but as cyanops is the common species in the Red 
Sea they may have belonged to this latter species. 
I may note that both Dr. Jerdon and Mr. Blyth states that 
this present species is occasionally seen in the Bay of Bengal 
and the Indian Ocean, but I have failed to find a single 
record of any specimen of this species having been procured 
in the Bay of Bengal. White Boobies have unquestionably 
been seen, but no specimen, as far as I can discover, has ever 
been procured and identified, and there are several species of 
White Boobies. A young specimen supposed to belong to this 
species, was sent from the Maldives, and is now in the Asiatic 
Society’s Museum, but I am not prepared to say that even this 
specimen has been correctly identified. 
A. OT. 
