1178 STJLA LEUCOGASTEA. 



Obs. This Gannet belongs to a section of the genus Sula for which the title Dysporus is adopted by some writers ; 

 but the type of this genus of Illiger's appears to have been another species with different characteristics, namely 

 the common European Gannet (Sula bassana, Linn.) ; and I agree with Mr. Hume that it cannot well be adopted. 

 The characteristics of the section to which the present species belongs consist in the bare gular skin not extending 

 down the throat as a stripe more or less extended, but terminating in a curve across the chin. 



In the Atlantic and on the coasts of South America the White-breasted Gannet assumes a smaller form, which some 

 writers separate from, and others unite with, the present. According -to the former, it is the Sula parva of 

 Gmelin (Syst. Nat. i. p. 579). A male procured by Von Pelzeln near Eio Janeiro measured — total length only 

 21 inches. 



Distribution. — This well-known bird (the " Booby " of sailors) is a casual visitor to the coasts of Ceylon, 

 being, however, generally seen on the western side of the island. Mr. Iloldsworth, the first naturalist to 

 record it from our region, writes thus of it: — " In February and March 1868 I had many opportunities of 

 watching a pair of Boobies which frequented the neighbourhood of the Aripu pearl-banks, about ten miles 

 from the land. They used often to perch on a large iron buoy close to my usual anchorage at night. I only 

 saw them during that one season." In 1871 I saw an example of this species myself sitting on a buoy at the 

 entrance to Galle harbour; and in the same locality Capt. Wade-Dalton, of the 73rd Regiment, has seen 

 several, being likewise the possessor of a specimen which flew against the lighthouse at Galle and was killed. 

 At the latter end of 1875 or beginning of the following year the immature bird above described was captured 

 near Kafutara (Caltura), and kindly given to me by my friend Sir Charles Layard, into whose hands it had 

 passed. A second immature example was seen by me on the 19th December, 1876, flying about the Colombo 

 Roads, and finally settling on the " Drunken-Sailor" buoy near the fort. Since my departure from the island 

 a further example, now in the Colombo Museum, was procured at Kalutara. 



This species is widely spread, inhabiting the entire tropical zone, and wandering north and south from 

 it. In the Bay of Bengal Mr. Hume has noticed it, and it is numerous between Penang and Singapore, near 

 the Cocos Islands and Preparis Island, or in that part of the Bay between the Andamans and Burmah. He 

 likewise records it from the Laccadivc group, where he saw it at the Chcrbaniani reef and near Pere-mull-par. 

 It occurs at the Seychelles, and is occasionally seen as far south as the Mauritius, frequenting also the tropical 

 portion of the east coast of Africa and portions of the Red Sea. In the Atlantic it is found at St. Helena and 

 Ascension, breeding in considerable numbers at Boatswain-bird Island. In the West Indies it has been noticed 

 at the Windward Islands and on the coast of Venezuela; and from Honduras Mr. Salvin records it. 



Tinning eastward of the Bay of Bengal we find it recorded from Formosa and Shanghai by Swinhoe; and 

 northward of the latter place Pere David says he has not seen it, notwithstanding a species of Gannet is 

 included in the ' Fauna Japonica' by Tcmminck and Sehlegel under the name of S.fusca, which may have 

 been this species. To the Philippines it appears to be a rare straggler : Cuming procured it in the island of 

 Mindanao; but Mr. Everett and recent collectors have not met with it in this group. It is found among 

 various islands in the Pacific, among which the Fiji group may be mentioned, whence Hartlaub records it. 

 On the north coast of Australia and about Torres Straits it is not uncommon ; and I observe that Mr. Ramsav, 

 in his list of Australian birds, notes it from Cape York, the Gulf of Carpentaria, and Port Darwin, as also 

 from the south coast of New Guinea. Salvadori records it from Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Ternate, Amboina, 

 and New Guinea; and recently Herr Meyer speaks of a specimen having been brought from Minahassa, in 

 I VU-bes. 



Habits. — This species does not appear to lead the active life which makes the various species of White 

 Gannet so conspicuous; it has not the same vigorous, rapid flight, every now and then plunging from great 

 heights like a thunderbolt into the sea, which, when sailing in the Cape or Australian seas, one cannot fail 

 to notice at once in the case of Sula serratur or S. capensis ; but it appears to fly leisurely along, nearer the 

 water than these its congeners, now and then sweeping down after some unlucky fish. While affecting the 

 vicinity of the shore it frequently sits on small rocks or on some isolated buoy, which kind of perch it 

 invariably chooses when it is to be had. Its favourite food in the tropics seems to be flying-fish, which it may 

 often be seen chasing, flying after them and dashing on them in a slanting direction. It not unfrequently 

 comes on board ship at night, perching usually on the extremity of the yard-arm, and while taking its rest 



