720 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — STEGANOPODES. 



53. Family SULID^ : Gannets. 



Bill rather longer thau head, cleft to beyond eyes, very stout at base, tapering and a 

 little decurved toward tip, which however is not hooked, the tomia irregularly serrate, or 

 rather lacerate. An evident nasal groove. Nostrils abortive. Gular sac little developed, 

 but naked. Wings rather long, pointed. Tail hjug, stiff, wedge-shaped, 12-14 feathered. 

 Feet stout and serviceable, more nearly beneath centre of e(iuilibrium than in some other 

 families of this order. General configuriitiou somewhat that of a goose; body stout; neck 

 rather long ; head large, uncrested ; plumage compact. Marine. 



Two carotids. Oil-gland disc- like. Coeca very small. Gall-bladder large. Pneu- 

 maticity extreme, even to intermuscular air-cells. Ambiens, femoro-caudal, and semitendi- 

 nosus present; accessories absent; former with a peculiarity of insertion. The relationships 

 of the family are decidedly with the Cormorants. 



Gannets are large heavy sea-birds of various parts of the world. There are only five or 

 six well-estabhshed species, of which the two following, with the S. piscator of the Indian 

 Ocean, and the Australian S. cyanops, are the principal ones. They are piscivorous, and feed 

 by plunging on their prey from ou high, when they are completely submerged for a few 

 moments ; but they do not appear to dive from the surface of the water like Cormorants. The 

 gait is firm ; the flight vigorous and protracted, performed with alternate sailing and flapping. 

 Although so heavy, they swim lightly, owing to the remarkable pneumaticity of the body, 

 already noticed. They are highly gregarious; the common Gannet congregates to breed in 

 almost incredible numbers on rocky coasts and islands, of high latitudes, while the Booby 

 similarly assembles on the low shores of warmer seas. The nest is a rude bulky structure of 

 sticks and seaweed, placed on the rock or in low thick bushes ; the egg, generally single, is 

 plain in color and encrusted with calcareous matter. Both sexes appear to incubate ; they are 

 alike in cidor, the young being different. 

 301. SU'LA. (Norse swte, a booby.) Gannets. Character of the family, as above. The white 

 Gannet, type oi Sula, differs subgeneiically from the brown Boobies {Bijsporus). 



Analysis of SppcU'S. 

 Wliite, with black priniaries, head washed with amber-yellnw ; bill not yellow; lores, sac, and feet black- 

 ish. Young spotted bassana 746 



Brown, below from the neck white; bill and feet yellow. Young not spotted hiicogastra 747 



74C. S. bassa'na. (Of Bass Kock, Firth of Forth.) Common Gannet. White Gannet. 

 Solan Goose. Adult (J ? : Bill pale grayish, tiugcd with greenish or bluish; the nasal 

 groove, lores and gular sac blackish , as are the feet ; iris white. Plumage white, the prim- 

 aries black, the head washed with amber-yellow. Length 3 feet or more; extent 6 feet, more 

 or less ; wing 17-21 inches ; tail 9.00-10.00, pointed, 12-feathcred ; bill along culmen 4, along 

 gape 6 ; tarsus 2.00 ; middle toe and claw 4.00. Young : Bill brownish, the lores livid bluish ; 

 feet dusky ; iris green. Plum,age dark brown, spotted with white, below from the neck grayish- 

 white, each feather darker-edged (character much as in a young night-heron) ; wing-quills 

 and tail-feathers blackish. Atlantic Coast, swarming in summer at certain northern breeding 

 places, as at "Gannet Rock" in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, S. to the Gulf of Mexico in winter. 

 Nest of seaweed ; egg single, 3.00 X 2.00, pale greenish-blue flaked over with white chalky 

 substance. Young hatch naked, blackish, pot-bellied ; then are covered with thick yellowish 

 down. 



747. S. leueogas'tra. (Gr. X™km, leucos, white; -yacrr^p, gaster, belly.) Brown Gannet. 

 Booby. Adult ^ 9 : Bill and bare spaces about head, and feet yellow, former paler or 

 flesh-color toward end. Iris white. Plumage dark brown, below white from the neck. 

 Young: Bill dusky; feet dark; plumage grayish-brown, paler below. Length about 30.00; 



