SULA LEUCOGASTEA. 



(THE BROWN GANNET.) 



Sula sula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 218 (1766). 



Sulci leucogastra, Bodd. Tabl. PL Enl. p. 57 (1783); Sclater & Salvin, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 651. 



Sula australis, Steph. ajaud Hume, Str. Feath. 1877, p. 318, et 1878, p. 493 (List B. of 



Tenass.), et 1879, p. 116 (List B. of Ind.). 

 Sula fiber (Linn.), apud Gould, B. of Austr. vii. pi. 78 (1848); Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



p. 296 (1849); Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 851 (1864) ; Holdsvv. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 482 ; 



Salvadori, Ucc. di Born. p. 389 (1874). 

 Dysporus sula (Linn.), David & Oustalet, Ois. de la Chine, p. 530 (1877). 

 The Booby of sailors ; Dusky Gannet of some. 



Adult female (Laccadives). Length 31-7 inches; wing 16-1; tail 8-0; tarsus 2-0; bill from gape 5-1, at front 4-1 



{Hume).— Adult. (Pacific) Length 32-9 inches ; wing 16-96 ; tail 8-21 : tarsus 1-83 ; middle toe 2-73 (Finsch). 



(Tenasserim : Brit. Mus.) Wing 16-5 ; tail 7'0 ; tarsus 1-86 ; middle toe 2-95 ; bill to gape 4-3, at front 3-6. 



(West Indies : Brit. Mus.) Wing 15-1 inches ; tail 8-0 ; tarsus 1-7 ; bill at front 3-76. (Locality ? : Brit. Mus.) 



Wing 15-7 inches ; tarsus 1-8 ; middle toe 3-05, claw (straight) 0-49. 

 Note. This species has 14 tail-feathers. 

 "Iris white; bill creamy white, with a bluish tinge in veins ; pouch, gape, lores, and orbital spaces pale hoary greenish 



yellow ; legs and feet pale yellow, with a greenish tinge on tarsi ; claws white, with a bluish tinge " (Hume). 



" Iris very pale yellow ; bill and orbits primrose-yellow, blotched before and beneath the eye with pale bluish ; 



eyelash light ash-grey ; legs and feet pale yellow " (Gould). 



Adult (British Museum). Head, entire neck, and upper surface glossy chocolate-brown, paling round the bill in some 

 specimens, whilst in others the head and neck are darker throughout than the back ; wings and tail blackish 

 brown ; from the chest to the under tail-coverts, including the flanks, pure white, the longer under tail-coverts 

 tipped with brown ; axillaries white ; under wing brown, with a white band formed by the median coverts. 



Young. The nestling is covered with brownish down, darker on the back than on the chest ; but when first hatched 

 the young are naked. 



Immature (Ceylon). Iris bluish white ; bill pale bluish, orbital skin and round the gape tinged with green ; legs and 

 toes greenish yellow ; webs yellow, claws dusky. Face not bare beyond the posterior angle of the eye. 



Entire upper surface, head, and neck, down to the centre of the chest, uniform pale sepia-brown ; under surface from the 

 chest pale brownish, defined against the dark colour of the fore neck by a distinct line across the chest ; asillaries 

 and a bar across the under wing white ; the bases of the feathers of the under surface whitish. 



An example received alive in February was in the above plumage, corresponding to other specimens I have examined. 

 In April the head and neck began to darken, blackish-brown feathers appearing among the sepia-brown plumage : 

 at the same time the white feathers of the under surface began to appear, the scapulars and tail-feathers were 

 moulted completely in a month, and in May the under surface was mingled white and brownish ; the bird was 

 in bad condition owing to confinement, and was consequently moulting the clothing-feathers slowly and imper- 

 fectly ; had it been in a state of nature the complete white under surface would have been acquired during the 

 season in question. 



An example in the British Museum, labelled " Tenasserim," has the head and neck uniform brown, but the feathers 

 of the back tipped with whitish, conspicuously on the rump, where it forms a whitish patch, and also across the 

 lower part of the hind neck, forming there a pale band ; the underparts white, extending somewhat up the 

 middle of the throat ; some of the feathers of the fore neck are tipped with white. This specimen is not quite 

 mature. 



