176 



TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS — STEGANOPODES. 



those of the Brown Pelican than of any other North American bird ; and they are 

 sometimes stained with blood, as that also commonly is. The calcareous coating is 

 thicker than it is on the eggs of other birds, with few exceptions, and it is very 

 generally marked with scratches and furrows, as if deposited in a soft state. In one 

 specimen this coating was two millimetres in thickness, or nearly one twelfth of an 

 inch ; so that the eggshell, though emptied of its contents, is nearly as heavy as an 

 ordinary one that has not been blown. In shape there is a greater tendency to elonga- 

 tion or flattening of the ellipse than in the Pelicans. The color of the egg when it is 

 first laid is chalky-white, which soon becomes a dirty drab. Four eggs selected by 

 Dr. Bryant from many hundreds gave the following measurements : 3.50 inches by 

 1.79; 3.30 by 2.04; 3.25 by 1.88; 3.26 by 1.65. 



Sula cyanops. 



THE BLUE-FACED GANNET. 



Dysporus c7janops, Sundev. Phys. Tidskr. Lund. 1837, pt. 5 ; Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1847, XIX. 236 



P. Z. S. 1871, 125. 

 Sida cyanops, Sundev. Isis, 1842, 858. — Salv. Trans. Zool. Soc. IX. ix. 1875, 496 (Galapagos; 



critical). — Streets, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 7, 1877, 24 (Christmas I.). — Lawk. Pr. Boston 



Soc. 1871 (Socorro I. W. Mexico). 

 Sula per sonata, Gray, P. Z. S. 1846, 21. 



Sula piscator, Peale, U. S. Expl. Exp. Orn. 1848, 273 (not of LiNN. 1766). 

 Jicvillagigedo Gannet, Lawr. 1. c. 



Hab. Coasts and islands of the South Pacific ; Bahamas (breeding ; Bryant), and other West 

 India islands ; Southern Florida. 



Sp. Char. Larger than /S. leucogastra and S. piscator, the bill much thicker through the base ; 

 feet reddish. Adult, im-fed plumage : (No. 11953, Bahamas, April, 1859; Dr. H. Bryant'): 





Prevailing color white, the greater wing-coverts, alulae, primary-coverts, and remiges, dark sooty 

 brown ; middle rectrices hoary white, becoming gradually sooty brown at ends ; other tail-feathers 

 hoary white basally, the e.xposed portion dark sooty brown. Bill (in skin) grayish yellow ; bare 

 skin of face, and gular sac blackish (blue in life) ; feet light reddish. Wing, 16.15 inches ; tail, 

 7.75 ; cidinen, 3.95; depth of bill through base, 1.40; tarsus, 1.80; middle toe, 2.85.2 Young 



^ Labelled " S. parva" and " /S'. chrysops." 



2 The, average dimensions of this species are considerably greater tlian those given above, six examples 

 averaging as follows ; 16.53 inches, 8.42, 3.96, 1.44, 2.02, 2.88. The maximmn in this series is 17.80, 



