148 STJLID^. 



second clutch in the same nest. The birds were so tame that some perched on his 

 head and shoulders, and others on the rails of the skiff as he rowed ashore. On Socorro 

 neither this species nor the other Boobies were so common as on San Benedicte ; but 

 on Clarion Island S. websteri was very abundant, and its nests were seen placed on 

 branches of low shrubby trees. 



5. Sula uebonxi. 



Sula piscator (nee Linn.), Grayson, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. xiv. p. 302 ' ; Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. 



N. H. ii. p. 316 ". 

 Sula nebouxi, Mihie-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Xat. (6) xiii. art. 4, p. 37, t. 14'; Ridgw. Man. 



N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. p. 58i'; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mns. xxvi. p. 435 '; 



Nelson, N. Amer. Faun. no. 14, p. 31 *. 

 Sula ffossi, Ridgw. Auk, v. p. 241 ' ; A. O. U. Check-1. X. Amer. Birds, p. 40 '. 



Bnmnea, dorsi plumis albido marginatis ; alia bmnneis, primariis nigricantibus ; rectricibus medianis albis, 

 reliquis griseis externe saturate bmnneis ; pileo eolloqne brunneis, albo striolatim marginatis ; collo 

 postico albo ; prsepectore et corpore reliquo snbtos albis ; sabalaribus griseo-bnmneis, extemis saturate 

 brunneis, minoribus albidioribns ; axillaribus albis : rostro plumbescenti-corneo, ad basin, plumbescenti- 

 caeruleo ; regione oculari et gula nudis plumbescenti-caeruleis ; pedibus laete eaernleia ; iride flava. Long, 

 tota circa 29-0, alae 16-1, caudae 8'7, culm. 4-1, tarsi 2-0. (Descr. maris adalti ex Ins. Tres Marias. 

 Mns. nostr.) 



2 mari similis, sed major. Long, alae 17"6, culm. 4-5. (Descr. feminae adnltse ex Ins. Tres Marias. Mns. 

 nostr.). 



Ilab. Islands of the Gulf of California ^, San Pedro Martir (Goss''), San Juanito I. 

 {Nelson^). — Revillagigedo Is., Socorro I. {Grayson^); Mexico, Isabel 1. {Gray- 

 son 1, kelson ®), Coast of Mazatlan (Bischoff^), Tres Marias Is. {Forrer ^, Xelson ^). 

 — Galapagos Aechipelago ^ ; Chile ^. 



S. nehouxi was originally described from Chile ^ ; but it has since been found in the 

 Galapagos Archipelago, and along the Pacific coast of Mexico as far north as the 

 islands of the Gulf of California. Mr. Nelson met with the species abundantly on 

 Isabel and the Tres Marias Islands ; as regards the former he gives a most interesting 

 account of his observations. The nests were merely hollows in the earth or gravel, 

 or on the grassy beach among the scrubby trees and bushes; when approached, the 

 males usually flew away, leaving the females, which are the larger birds, to protect 

 them. Sitting on their eggs, they fought and screamed savagely, and gave vicious 

 digs with their bill at the legs of anyone who came within striking distance. By the 

 light of a candle, on a calm night, he visited their nesting-place, and found the females 

 sitting on their eggs with the males standing beside them ; when he appeared they 

 set up a continuous series of hoarse cries, and, like moths, fascinated by the lioht 

 they trooped in single file from right to left in a circle round him. One was 

 suddenly possessed with the desire to run round Mr. Nelson's legs, and, although 

 several times seized by the head and tossed among its companions, repeatedly returned 

 and continued its gyrations. 



