110 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



country the piscatorial education is confined to the Cormorant. 

 However that may be, the bird under consideration is by no means 

 referable to that species. I supposed it before to be the true S. 

 fiber vel fusca ; but Bonaparte gives of that species, " subtus a 

 jugulo albus," while oiirs has the whole of the under neck and 

 breast concolorous with the upper parts. I can hardly imagine 

 that this species has so long escaped detection, but think it pru- 

 dent to christen it afresh at the head of my description of it ; 

 and should it prove a previously described form, it will be easy 

 enough for you to quash my name and substitute the proper 

 one. Under the head of Sula bassana, Pallas (Zoograph. Rosso- 

 Asiat. ii. p. 307) states that Gannets are most rarely met with 

 on the coast of Siberia, and that " in orientali Oceano Stellerus 

 unica vice cum Cane Lagopo pugnantem cepit, in itinere vero Ame- 

 ricano scepius in Pelago volantem inter Pr'ocellarias vidit." This 

 may, however, refer to several species. His description appears 

 to be that of the true S. bassana. 



Sula sinicadvena, 6 . Skin bare on forehead a little in front 

 of and round the eye ; the feathers advancing a little way under 

 the eyes, and then receding and going round the throat in a 

 gently festooned line. Bill along culmen to frontal feathers 4*5, 

 to gape 5'4i in.; gonys to edge of gailar feathers 5"15j alongside 

 of lower maxilla to edge of feathers 5*8 in. Bill and face-skin pale 

 yellow_, deeper on the bare skin, plumbeous in front and round 

 the eye. Tomia serrated; mouth smooth, without papilhe, 

 plumbeous. Tongue nearly obsolete. Iris light pearly grey, 

 blackening near pupil, with a black outer rim. Legs pale yel- 

 lowish, with a slight tinge of green; claws light plumbeous, that 

 of middle toe broadly pectinated. General plumage deep brown, 

 with the under shafts of remiges and rectrices white. The under 

 body, from the breast downwards, and under wing-coverts white, in 

 parts with a smoky and brownish tinge, as if, when younger, the 

 bird had been entirely brown. Length 31^ in.; wing 16 in.; 1st 

 quill "2 longer than 2nd, and longest in wing ; tail 9 in., cuneate 

 and acuminate, of 14 stifi" feathers, each running to a point, two 

 central longest, the rest much graduated. Tarse 1-9 in.; middle 

 toe and claw 3-6 in. ; toes all connected by membrane. The in- 

 ternal parts were much shrunk, as the bird had been kept several 



