SULA LEUCOGASTRA. 1179 



now and then twisting its head stupidly from side to side, which habit no doubt has given rise to its name of 

 Booby among sailors. 



The example which I kept in confinement was a greedy bird, snapping up fish and pieces of meat, and 

 devouring them like a Cormorant as rapidly as I threw them in to it. It perched much on an upright stone 

 which I had placed in the ground for the purpose, but now and then it betook itself to a lower perch and sat 

 upright ; but sometimes it placed itself in a position of ease by resting the centre of its breast on the stake, 

 and thus balanced its body in a horizontal position, with the neck held out straight. It walked well, taking 

 short strides, but without the waddling gait which one would have expected from the backward position of its 

 legs. Its voice was a hoarse harsh crake, reminding one of the creaking of a heavy gate on rusty hinges ! 

 While moulting, particularly when its neck lost many of the feathers, bare places being visible here and there, 

 it seemed unable to swallow, and shook its food out of its bill with a jerking motion of the head ; this con- 

 tinuing for some time, it became very dull, and one day, while poking its head through the bamboos into the 

 adjoining aviary, a Sea-Eagle which occupied the next compartment seized it by the neck. After this, though 

 it had really sustained no injury, it pined, and its eyes gradually closed up, until I was obliged to put an end 

 to its unhappy existence. 



Dr. Cunningham, in his exhaustive notice of the Common Gannet or Solan Goose (S. bassana), says (Ibis, 

 1866, p. 13) : — " The name Gannet is intimately connected with our modern English Gander, both words 

 being modifications of the ancient British ' gan ' or ' gans/ which is the same word with the modern German 

 ' Gans,' which in its turn corresponds with the old High German ' Kans/ the Greek x^ v > ^ Qe Latin arise?', 

 and the Sanskrit ' hansa,' all of which possess the same signification, viz. a Goose." 



Nidification. — This widely-distributed Gannet breeds at certain fixed localities throughout the tropical 

 portions of the globe. Its nearest breeding-station to Ceylon may perhaps be in the Malay archipelago ; but 

 it is known to nest at Rodriguez, and also in the Red Sea, as Von Heuglin was informed by Arab fishermen 

 that there were colonies on the islands of the Dahlak archipelago ; but he did not visit them himself. On 

 Boatswain-bird Island this Gannet breeds in considerable numbers. According to Mr. Gill it nests on the 

 top of this rocky islet, and also on some isolated rocks off the north-west corner of Ascension. The single egg 

 is laid on the bare ground, and is chalky white in colour. 



An egg of this Gannet, kindly lent me by Mr. F. G. Penrose, and taken at Boatswain-bird Island, is an 

 oval, somewhat pointed at one end ; the exterior of the shell is chalky white and the texture rather smooth ; 

 beneath, the shell shows pale green where the chalky material has been scratched off. It measures 2 - 66 by 

 T73 inch. Other specimens, belonging to Canon Tristram, the loan of which I have been favoured with, are 

 of similar shape and texture, but vary in width; two measure 2"4 by 1"5 and 2 - 38 by T57 inch. 



7M 



