GANNETS 



(117) Sula bassana 



(Linn.) (Of Bas<i Rock, a famous British 

 nestiiH; place of the species). 



GANNET; SOLAN GOOSE. Bill 

 s 1 ii t y - b 1 u e . Feel greenish-black. 

 Iris yellow. Entire plumage white, 

 except the primaries, which are black. 

 Im. — Above dark brown, each feath- 

 er with a wedge-shaped white spot; 

 below grayish-white, each feather with 

 dark edges. L,, 36.00; Ex., 70.00; 

 W., iQ.oo; T., Q.so; B., 4.00. Nesl — 

 A hollowed pile of seaweed on rocky 

 ledges of sea-cliffs; one white egg 

 covered with a chalky deposit, 3.20 

 X 1.90. 



Range — Breeds on Bird Rock and 

 Bonaventure Island in the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence. Winters along the 

 South Atlantic coast. 





is covered, during summer with the white forms of nesting 

 Gannets, while the air is filled with beating wings and 

 hoarse, rasping croaks of others. The rocks which, in the 

 time of Audubon, were estimated to hold more than one 

 hundred and fifty thousand breeding birds, now have only 

 a few thousand. In marked contrast, the Gannets of 

 Bass Rock, off the Scotch coast, have suffered no appreci- 

 able decrease in numbers during the past hundred years, 

 even though they are much more accessible than are our 

 islands. 



Family ANHINGIDJ*). Darters 



The WATER-TURKEY, our only representative of 

 this family, is found in swamps of the Southern States and 

 up the Mississippi Valley to Illinois. They swim very 

 swiftly either on the surface or under water. They are 

 called "Darters" because they commonly perch on lookout 

 branches over the water and dart down on passing fish. 

 When alarmed they either drop into the water and swim 



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