314 REMARKS ON THE GENUS SULA. 



erroneous or not, is all we have to fix " piscatrix/' * aud by- 

 it that name is attached to Brisson's Candida in regard to which 

 no doubt can exist. 



Lesson's description of his erylhrorliyncha, which he himself 

 identifies with piscatrix, is as follows : — 



tl Bill rosy, with a black tip ; a little bare space round the eyes ; 

 the plumage white, with yellowish reflexions ; the quills black ; 

 the tail whitish or greyish ; the tarsi orange. The female is 

 brownish grey, with a reddish tinge. Habitat?" 



Gould thus described his rubripes, which he considered some- 

 what immature : — 



" Head, breast, throat, abdomen, and vent dingy white ; back 

 and tail pinkish ; wings pale pinky, mottled with dusky grey ; 

 primaries and secondaries blackish dusky ; bill yellowish fleshy, 

 with the tip black ; feet bright reddish orange. 



" Length, 23 ; bill, 4 ; wing, 14 ; tail, 7 ; tarsi, P37. 



" From New South Wales." 



Then we have Peale's " rubripeda, " a name that, if intended 

 to be original, is strangely near Gould's. Peale says : — 



tl Plumage of both sexes pure white, except the primaries, 

 secondaries, and first row of greater wing coverts, which are dark 

 brown, with a hoary surface ; tail cuneiform, white (which dis- 

 tinguishes it from 8. piscator, at first sight, its tail beiug 

 black) ; bill deeply serrated of a pale blue colour, margined at 

 the base by a bright red and wrinkled skin ; cheeks blue ; eyelids 

 green; irides brown; gular pouch intense black; feet bright 

 vermilion red ; middle toe nail much flattened, curved laterally 

 and deeply pectinated on the inner edge. 



" Length, 28-5 ; expanse, 59 ; bill at front, 3*2 ; from gape, 4*1 ; 

 tarsus, 1*4 ; mid toe and claw, 3 ; nail, 07 ; tail, 8 - 5 ; outer 

 feather, 43. 



" The young when first hatched are covered with a very white 

 down ; their first plumage is entirely brown, clouded with hoary, 

 but the colour soon becomes lighter about the head, neck, breast, 

 and tail. The neck and tail next become white, and finally the 

 whole plumage, except the greater feathers of the wings." 



So much for the original descriptions supporting the various 

 names now universally accepted as synonymous. 



Bonaparte diagnoses the species, Consp. II, 166, thus:— 



u Smaller ; milky white ; quills and tail feathers blackish, 

 the shafts white ; naked throat intense black ; feet red. Adult 

 bill greenish, red after death. Younger birds have the throat 

 fleshy, and the bill reddish ; the young has the bill red/' 



* This name was given by Linnaeus because, as he says, he thought it probable 

 (I do not know ivhy) that this was the species that the Chinese used for fishing 

 after placing a brazen ring rouud the bird's neck. The bird really so used is of course 

 a Cormorant. 



