Vol. xxw.] 42 



[Sula variegata) " The Peruvian Gannet." Since the publi- 

 cation of my correction in 1902 the Tring Museum has 

 received a most interesting series of adult and young examples 

 of the true Sula varieyata Tschudi, collected by Dr. H. O. 

 Forbes on the Peruvian Guano Islands, and this has enabled 

 me to form a definite opinion as to the true status of the 

 Galapagos species. In connection with this question, I have 

 gone into the synonymy and specific and racial position of 

 the birds hitherto placed under the name Sula cyanops 

 Sund., the Masked Gannet. T was considerably hampered 

 in this work owing to the want of specimens from the two 

 all-important regions : — the Atlantic Ocean and the Western 

 Indian Ocean. The Tring Museum possesses large series from 

 Laysan, Australia, the Islands in the Pacific, and California, 

 but only a solitary bird from the Atlantic and none from 

 the Red Sea or Indian Ocean. The British Museum series 

 is extremely poor in specimens of so-called Sula cyanops 

 Sund, from all localities, but fortunately contains one adult 

 bird from the Atlantic (Ascension Island) and one adult 

 and three young from the Indian Ocean (Assumption 

 Island) . 



Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, in the ' Catalogue of Birds/ united all 

 the "Masked Gannets," inclusive of S. abhotti Ridgw., 

 under S. cyanops, while he considered the adult and three- 

 year old bird of the Galapagos "Masked Gannet'^ to be 

 the adult and three-year old stages of Sula variegata. 



Mr. Grant, unlike Mr. Hume {' Stray Feathers,^ vol. v. 

 pp. 307-312), did not put much reliance on the coloration 

 of the soft parts in the S. cyanops group; but in the light of 

 recent collections and of the fact, now being realized, that 

 sea-birds are much more restricted in their areas than was 

 formerly supposed, the soft parts seem after all to form one 

 of a series of good racial distinctions. W 



Before going into the details of the cyanops group I must ' 

 clear up a vexed question of synonymy. Most authors when 

 writing on the "Masked Gannets^' employ the name 

 S. cyanops Sund. and quote S. dactylutra Less, with a 



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