66 BOOBY GANNET. 



fair weather they venture to a great distance seaward, and I have seen 

 them fully 200 miles from land. 



The expansibility of the gullet of this species enables it to swallow 

 fishes of considerable size, and on such occasions their mouth seems to 

 spread to an unusual width. In the throats of several individuals that 

 were shot as they were returning to their nests, I found mullets measur- 

 ing seven or eight inches, that must have weighed fully half a pound. 

 Their body beneath the skin, is covered with numerous air-cells, which 

 probably assist them in raising or lowering themselves while on wing, and 

 perhaps still more so when on the point of performing the rapid plunge 

 by which they secure their prey. 



Their principal enemies during the breeding-season are the American 

 Crow and the Fish Crow, both of which destroy their eggs, and the Tur- 

 key Buzzard, which devours their young while yet unfledged. They 

 breed during the month of May, but I have not been able to ascertain if 

 they raise more than one brood in the season. The adult birds chase 

 away those which are yet immature during the period of incubation. It 

 would seem that they take several years in attaining their perfect state. 



When procured alive, they feed freely, and may be kept any length 

 of time, provided they are supplied with fish. No other food, however, 

 could I tempt them to swallow, excepting slices of turtle, which after all 

 they did not seem to relish. In no instance did I observe one drinking. 

 Some authors have stated that the Frigate Pelican and the Lestris force 

 the Booby to disgorge its food that they may obtain it ; but this I have 

 never witnessed. Like the Common Gannet, they may be secured by 

 fastening a fish to a soft plank, and sinking it a few feet beneath the sur- 

 face of the water, for if they perceive the bait, which they are likely to 

 do if they pass over it, they plunge headlong upon it, and drive their bill 



into the wood., 



When a Booby has alighted on the spar of a vessel, it is no easy mat> 

 ter to catch it, unless it is much fatigued ; but if exhausted and asleep, 

 an expert seaman may occasionally secure one. I was informed that af- 

 ter the breeding-season, these birds roost on trees in company with the 

 Brown Pelican and a species of Tern, Sterna stolida, and spend their 

 hours of daily rest on the sand-banks. Our pilot, who, as I have men- 

 tioned in my second volume, was a man of great observation, assured me 

 that while at Vera Cruz, he saw the fishermen there go to sea, and re- 



