366 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Gould, B. of Aust. YII, Plate LXXIX; Reich. VoUst. Naturg. 

 Birds, Plate LIII, fig. 853, Plate LV, fig. 2294. 



Specimens of this handsome Gannet, are in the collection of the 

 Expedition, from several localities. Thej are in various stages of plu- 

 mage, but are strictly the same specifically as Mr. Gould's specimens, 

 now in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy. The latter are 

 from Raine's Island, from Northern Australia, and other localities in 

 the Pacific Ocean, and from China. Other specimens in the collection 

 of the Academy are from the Indian Ocean, and were presented by its 

 eminent member, Joseph Carson, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica 

 in the University of Pennsylvania, who, during a voyage to China, 

 made a valuable collection. 



This species has, therefore, evidently a very extensive range of 

 locality, and is perhaps, the most widely diffused species of this genus, 

 except the Brown Gannet (Sida fusca). It is represented as very 

 abundant in and about the islands north and east of Australia, and 

 we have ample evidence of its abundance also at numerous other locali- 

 ties, as we shall show in the statements of the naturalists of the Ex- 

 ploring Expedition in the course of the present article. 



Both Dr. Pickering and Mr. Peale frequently note the occurrence 

 of this bird, the latter of whom, who rather unaccountably regards it 

 as an undescribed species, thus alludes to it : 



" This is the most showy as well as the most common species of 

 Booby, that occurs in the Pacific Ocean. It appears to be confined to 

 the intertropical regions, but ranges from the shores of America to 

 those of Asia. 



white (which distinguishes it from S. piscator at first sight, its tail being black); bill 

 deeply serrated, of a pale blue color, margined at the base by a bright red and wrinkled 

 skin ; cheeks blue ; eyelids green ; irides brown ; gular pouch intense black ; feet bright 

 vermilion-red ; middle toe-nail much flattened, curved laterally, and deeply pectinated on 

 the inner edge. 



" Total length, twenty-eight and a half inches; extent of wings, fifty-nine inches; bill, 

 three and two-tenths inches; commissure, four and one-tenth inches; tarsi, one and 

 four-tenths inches; middle toe, including the nail, three inches; nail, seven-tenths of 

 an inch ; tail, eight and a half inches ; outer feathers, four and three-tenths inches. 



"The young when first hatched are covered with a very white down ; their first plu- 

 mage is entirely brown, clouded with hoary, but the color soon becomes lighter about 

 the head, neck, breast, and tail. The neck and tail next become white, and finally the 

 whole plumage, excepting the greater feathers of the wings. These changes require 

 several years." 



