184 
Birds of Gambia. 
it looks much more liku a swiiuniiiig snake than a bird. On the 
winy' tliey are strong last llyers, while under water tlicy dive and 
swim AviUi opun wings with extraoidiiiary ease and rapidity, as 
one may Iruquently see in the Diving Birds' tank at the Zoo. Tlu'y 
nest in trees overhanging or close to the water, several pairs usually, 
building together in one place. The different shape of the beak 
all'ords a certain means of diagnosis betwee^i a Cormorant and a 
a Snake-bird; in the latter it is straight and sharply poijited, with 
a number of serrations on the edges near the tip, while in the 
former it is hooked at the point. 
Both birds are here popularly classed togethei', and bear the 
same name, "being known by Bathurst people as " Water-ducks," 
and as " Turoduno " and Ntchola by the Mandingoes and JoloHs 
respectively. They are considered good eating, especially by the 
Manjagos, the sailormen of the countiy, but personally 1 have never 
been tempted to try one. 
The widely distributed Common Cormorant has also, I believe 
occurred in the Gambia, so that I include it in the following iisit 
of our representatives of the family. 
Fhalacrocorax carlo. COMMON COEMORAXT. 
Range. Nearly the whole Northern Hemisphere to Georgia, 
India, Africa, and Australia. {H.L.) 
P. lucidus. WHITE-BREASTED CORMORANT. 
Ea)h(j*e. Tropical Africa. Cape Verde Islands. {H.L.) 
P. africuims. LESSER AERICAN CORMORANT. (H.L). 
Range. Tropical Africa. {H.L.) 
Plolus nijus. AFRICAN DARTER. 
Range. Tropical Africa. Cape Verde Islands. (H.L.) 
SULID^E. 
Sula, hasmna. GANNEfT. 
Range. North Atlantic. Gulf of Mexico; North Africa and 
the Canaries in winter. (H.L). 
S. piscatrix. BOOBY. 
Range. South Atlantic. Indian and Australian seas. Oceania. 
(H.L). 
On one's way out when the steamer reaches Cape Verde it is 
nearly always met by a flock of Gannets, a few in full plumage, 
white with black-tipped wings, but the great majori:y in the brown 
attire of their youth. As we are situated just about the junction of 
the ranges of two species named abovle, I think it most probable 
that both may be regarded as Gam'bian. An odd Gannet may often 
be seen in Bathurst, having followed some steamer, no doutit, all the 
the way up the estuary. 
PELECANIDJi. 
Pelecanus rufescens. Brown-backed Pelican. 
