294 MR. J. J. LISTER ON THE [Apr. 21, 



as one approached. It was most amusing to watch the small 

 fluffy young one beside tiie parent bird joining in and adding its 

 weak notes of defiance to hers. She certainly managed to ap|)ear 

 very formidable with her feathers rufiled and powerful yellow bill half 

 open ready for attack, the pupil contracted to a speck in the niiildle of 

 the bright yellow iris, which gleamed out from the bare dark grey 

 skin surrounding it. 



The feet are of a brownish-grey colour, 



SULA LEUCOGASTEE (Bodd.). 



These were less numerous than the White Gannet. The bill is 

 rather less powerful, and is greenish blue, becoming bluer at tiie base. 

 The iris is grey and the feet a delicate pale green. The young bird 

 has the blue bill and grey iris of the adult, but the feet are pale red. 

 The nest is built of sticks and placed on the bushes like those of 

 the following species. 



SuLA piscATRix (Linn.). 



These birds built their nests on the Sida bushes a few feet from the 

 ground. They were not in colonies but scattered here and there, 

 and I noticed some in the middle of the Prigate-bird colonies, where 

 they lived apparently in perfect peace with their neighbours, though 

 it is one of the common sights to see the Frigate-birds chasing them 

 out at sea to make them hand over the fish they have caught. The 

 bird has a curiously incomplete look, the feathers not sitting close and 

 smooth as in its allies, and the colours, though bright, appear to be 

 in indifferent taste. The bill is greyish blue, and the bare skin 

 which extends over the lores and behind the eye is bright blue. 

 At tlie base of both upper and lower mandible is a band of pink 

 gradually blending with the colours behind. The skin between the 

 rami of the mandible and on the ' chin ' is dark slate. The feet 

 are of a dark pink, almost magenta. 



The eggs of the three species have the pale blue ground-colour 

 almost hidden by the chalky-white covering. Those of iS. cyanops 

 are much larger than the others. My specimens vary in weight as 

 ibllows : — 



S. cyanops 1 1 9 to 144 grs. 



/S'. leiiioguster 80 to 88 „ 



S. piscatrix 69 to 83 „ 



At Canton Island a clump oiTourneforlia trees was habitually used 

 by these birds (S. piscatrix) as a roosting and preening place. Among 

 the pieces of down which were sticking to the bare branches, having 

 been preened out of the feathers, was found one entangled with a 

 seed of one of the trailing plants of the island {BoerJiaavia tetrandra, 

 Forst.), which is beset with glandular hairs. Such an incident indi- 

 cates a method by which seeds may be distributed from island to 

 island by birds. 



