SULA CTANOPS. 1181 



Sulci capensis, Licht. (the Cape G-annet), is white, with the entire tail and the quills and greater wing-coverts brown. 



It does not appear to stray north of the Mozambique channel. Wiug 18-0 inches ; gular space extending in a 



narrow stripe down the centre of the throat. 

 Sulci serrator (S. australis, apud Gould, P. Z. S. 1840, p. 177) is a magnificent species, frequenting the Australian seas, 



and is one of the showiest birds on the wing and boldest fishers of the whole genus. It has only the four central 



tail-feathers and the quills (none of the wing-covert feathers) black-brown. A specimen in the British Museum 



measures in the wing 17 - 5 inches. 



Distribution. — An example of a white Gannet, which I identify as belonging to this species, was sent 

 liome for examination, about a year ago, by the Director of the Colombo Museum. It was brought to him 

 by a native of Puttalam, who stated that he had caught it there in the month of April 1878 ; and if this 

 statement be correct, the bird was probably driven on shore in a gale of wind. No other example of the 

 species has been, to my knowledge, met with in the island. 



This Gannet inhabits the southern parts of the Indian Ocean, and is not uncommon in the Malay 

 archipelago and about the Cocos Islands, whence it wanders north, approaching the Mekran coast, where 

 Captain Butler procured specimens in May 1877. Von Heugiin met with it on the Somauli coast, at Ras 

 Hafun and Socotra, and on the island of Kuria Muria. Captain Shelley includes it in his ' Birds of Egypt,' 

 on the authority of Mr. E. C. Taylor, who met with it near Suez. It is found in the tropical parts of the 

 Atlantic, breeding at Ascension on Boatswain-bird Island, near which place I have seen it in considerable 

 numbers myself. 



Eastward of Ceylon it is apparently more abundant, for in the Malay archipelago Salvadori records it 

 from the Straits of Sunda, the coast of Borneo, and Torres Straits ; and in the latter locality it was found 

 breeding at Raine Island by the ' Challenger ' expedition ; while Mr. Ramsay records it from Port Darwin 

 and Cape York, southward of which it extends to the Wide-Bay district, New South Wales, Victoria, and 

 South Australia. It has been found in various places in Polynesia, including the Sandwich Islands, the 

 Paumotu and Phoenix groups, and M'Kean's Island, Graffe having pi-ocured it at the two latter places, and 

 Peale at the second named, while Salvadori records it from the first mentioned. Eastward still it has been 

 noted from Peru and the coast of Chili. 



Habits. — This fine Gannet, like the Australian and Cape species, is a showy bird on the wing and 

 possessed of great powers of flight. The only locality where I have seen it myself was at Ascension ; and I 

 had there an opportunity of seeing it chased by Frigate-birds, and display all the speed that it was capable 

 of in trying to evade its rapacious adversary. It flies with very rapid strokes of the wings, and keeps at a 

 good height above the water when proceeding from place to place. It descends on its prey almost perpen- 

 dicularly, and plunges with great velocity into the water, almost disappearing beneath the surface in the force 

 of its descent. 



Nidification. — The Masked Gannet appears to have a permanent breeding-station in Raine Island, 

 Torres Straits, as several naturalists have found it there at the nesting-season. Gould describes eggs taken 

 from this place as " rather lengthened in form ; dirty white, stained all over with reddish brown ; dimensions 

 2-f inches long by 1|- broad."" It likewise nests at Lord Howe's Island, whence Canon Tristram has specimens, 

 one of which, kindly lent to me, is sullied white, with a bluish-green shell, from which the chalky texture has 

 been considerably removed; this is an ellipse in shape, and measures 2'66 by T71 inch. In the Atlantic it 

 breeds on the top of Boatswain-bird Island, at Ascension, in company with the Brown Gannet; here its single 

 egg is laid on the ground. 



7m 2 



