STJLA CYANOPS. 



(THE YELLOW-EYED GANNET.) 



Sula cyanops, Sund. Phys. Sallsk. Tidsk. 1837, p. 218 ; Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1480 

 (1873) ; Salvadori, Uccelli di Born. p. 3G7 (1874); Hume, Str. Feath. 1877, p. 307, 

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



Sula personata, Gould, P. Z. S. 1846, p. 21 ; id. B. of Austr. vii. pi. 77 (1848). 



Dysporus cyanops (Sund.), Finsch & Hartlaub, Orn. Centr.-Polyn. p. 252 (1867). 



The Masked Gannet, Gould. 



Adult females (Eaine Island; 'Challenger' Exp.). Wing 15-7 to 16-0 inches; tail 7-0 to 7 - 5 ; tarsus 2-2 to 2-3; 

 outer toe and claw 3-5 ; bill at front 4-1 to 4-2, to gape 5'2. — Mule and female (Mekran coast). " Length 32-0 to 

 33-0 ; wing 16-5 ; tail 7-25 to 7-5 ; bill at front 4-0 to 4-06 ; bill to gape 4-12 to 5-0 " (Butler).— Adults (Eed 

 Sea). " Length 30-7 to 31-8; wing 17-8 to 18-1 ; tail 7*67 to 8-77; tarsus 2-1 to 2-2: bill at front 4-12, at 

 gape 4-0:i " ( //< uglin ). 



Note. This species has \G tail-feathers. 



Iris yellow, reddish yellow, or greenish yellow : bill yellow or greenish yellow ; loral and facial skin dark slate-colour ; 

 legs and toes dark slaty or plumbeous ; webs darker. 



Obs. Mr. Hume, iu his valuable notice of this species (Str. Feath. 1877), gives a list of the descriptions of the "soft 

 parts " of this species by various authors, to show how much they vary. The discrepancies, however, as regards 

 what are presumed adults, in his table do not appear to be greater than one would expect in the case of birds of 

 perhaps different ages from widely distant localities. The four specimens last in the table are evidently all 

 immature. Mr. Murray, the naturalist of the ' Challenger,' describes the soft parts of the Eaine-Island specimen as 

 follows : — " Iris yellow ; skin of the throat black ; legs and feet slate-colour." 



Adult female (Eaine Island). Plumage white ; the primaries and their coverts, greater wing-coverts and secondaries, 

 as also the tips of the tertiais and scapulars, brownish black; iimer webs of the secondaries basally white; tail 

 very dark brown, somewhat paler than the primaries, the basal portion of the feathers white, extending along 

 the edges of the central pair ; under wing white. 



"/. Tin- nestling is covered with white down (fide Finsch). 



Tmmatwt in first plumage. Iris dusky yellow ; face and basal portion of bill blue, passing into olive at the tips ; legs 



and feel olive, the webs darker. " Plumage uniform greyish brown " (Finsch). 

 In the succeeding stage the plumage is white, more marked with dark colour than the adult. 



The following is a description of an immature example procured in Ceylon in the month of April : — Length 32-0 inches ; 

 wing 17'0 ; tail 9'0 ; tarsus 1"9 ; middle toe and claw 4-0 ; bill to gape 5'3. 



Bill blackish at base and tip ; the remainder in the dried specimen reddish, probably yellow when living : legs and feet 

 black. 



Plumage white, tinged with salmon-colour beneath ; the primaries, secondaries, wing-coverts, primary-coverts, scapulars, 

 and tail dull black, the following parts being white, e. <j. the inner webs of the longer or underlying scapulars also 

 of the secondaries and the primaries to within 3 or 4 inches of the tips, and likewise the bases of the win^-covert 

 feathers ; upper tail-coverts with a drop- shaped black patch near the tips of the feathers. 



Captain Butler records the soft parts of specimens in immature plumage shot on the Mekran coast as follows : Iris 



pale green (?) ; bill pale bluish horny ; bare skin of face and chin slate-colour ; feet lavender-blue. The colour 

 of the iris is here at variance with that noted by any other naturalist ; and one is almost inclined to think that 

 the specimens have been wrongly identified. 



Obi 



Sula piscatrix, Linn., which is found in the Malay archipelago, may perhaps occur as far north as Ceylon. 

 It has the legs and feet red ; bill and facial skin light blue. Plumage white, with the head and neck tinned with 

 buff; primaries, greater coverts, and secondaries brown, tinged with grey ; edge of the under wing brown. Wing 

 14-5 to 16-4inches. These notes, except the dimension of the wing, are taken from a Torres-Straits specimen. 



