720 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. ~ STEGAIS OPODES. 
53. Family SULID^ : G-annets. 
Bill rather longer than 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 long, stifl", wedge-shaped, 12-14 feathered. 
Feet stout and serviceable, more nearly beneath centre of equilibrium than in some other 
families of this order. General configuration 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-established species, of which the two following, with the S. 2-)iscator of the Indian 
Ocean, and the Australian S. cyanops, are the principal ones. They are piscivorous, and feed 
by plunging on their prey from on 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 fiight vigorous and protracted, performed with alternate sailing and fiapping. 
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 color, the young being diff'erent. 
301. SU'LA. (Norse s*f?e, a booby.) Gannets. Character of the family, as above. The white 
Gannet, type of Sida, difiers subgenerically from the brown Boobies (Dysporus). 
Analysis of Species. 
White, with black primaries, liead washed with aiuber-yellow; bill not yellow; lores, sac, and feet black- 
ish. Young spotted hassana 746 
Brown, below from the neck white ; bill and feet yellow. Young not spotted leucogastra 747 
746. S. bassa'na. (Of Bass Kock, Firth of Forth.) Common Gannet. White Gannet. 
Solan Goose. Adult ^ 9 : Bill pale grayish, tinged 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-feathered ; 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. Plumage 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 Kock" 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. leucogas'tra. (Gr. X^vkSs, leucos, white; yacrTrjp, gaster, belly.) Brown Gannet. 
Booby. Adult S 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. 
Y'oung; Bill dusky; feet dark; plumage grayish-brown, paler below. Length about 30-00 ; 
