1178 
STJLA LEUCOGASTRA. 
Obs. This Gannet belongs to a section of the genus Sula for which the title Dysporus is adopted by some wri ers ; 
but the type of this genus of Eliger’s appears to have been another species with different characteristics, name y 
the common European Gannet (Sula bassana, Linn.) ; and I agree with Mr. Hume that it cannot well be adopt® • 
The characteristics of the section to which the present species belongs consist m the bare gular slun not extend g 
down the throat as a stripe more or less extended, but terminating in a curve across the chm. 
In the Atlantic and on the coasts of South America the White-breasted Gannet assumes a smaller form which some 
writers separate from, and others unite with, the present. According to the former, it is the Sub parva ot 
Gmelin (Syst. Nat. i. p. 579). A male procured by Von Pelzeln near Eio Janeiro measured-total length only 
21 inches. 
Distribution .— This well-known bird (the “ Booby ” of sailors) is a casual visitor to tlic coasts of Ceylon, 
being however, generally seen on the western side of the island. Mr. Iloldsworth, the first naturalist to 
record it from our region, writes thus of it:— “ In February and March 1868 I had many opportunities of 
watching a pair of Boobies which frequented the neighbourhood of the Aripu pearl-banks, about ten miles 
from the land. They used often to perch on a large iron buoy close to my usual anchorage at night. I only 
saw them during that one season.” In 1871 I saw an example of this species myself sitting on a buoy at the 
entrance to Galle harbour; and in the same locality Capt. Wade-Dalton, of the 73rd Regiment, lias seen 
several being likewise the possessor of a specimen which flew against the lighthouse at Galle and was lulled. 
At the ’latter end of 1875 or beginning of the following year the immature bird above described was captured 
near Kalutara (Caltura), and kindly given to me by my friend Sir Charles Layard, into whose hands it had 
passed. A second immature example was seen by me on the 19th December, 1876, flying about the Colombo 
Roads, and finally settling on the “ Drunken-Sailor ” buoy near the fort. Since my departure from the island 
a further example, now in the Colombo Museum, was procured at Kalutara. 
This species is widely spread, inhabiting the entire tropical zone, and wandering north and south from 
it. In the Bav of Bengal Mr. Hume has noticed it, and it is numerous between Penang and Singapore, near 
the Cocos Islands and Preparis Island, or in that part of the Bay between the Andamans and Burraah. He 
likewise records it from the Laccadive group, where he saw it at the Cherbaniani reef and near Pere-mull-par. 
It occurs at the Seychelles, and is occasionally seen as far south as the Mauritius, frequenting also the tropical 
portion of the east coast of Africa and portions of the Red Sea. In the Atlantic it is found at St Helena and 
Ascension, breeding in considerable numbers at Boatswain-bird Island. In the West Indies it has been noticed 
at the Windward Islands and on the coast of Venezuela; and from Honduras Mr. Salvin records it. 
Turning eastward of the Bay of Bengal we find it recorded from Formosa and Shanghai by Swinhoe ; and 
northward of the latter place Pere David says he has not seen it, notwithstanding a species of Gannet is 
included in the ‘Fauna Japonica" by Temminck and Schlegel under the name of S.fusca, which may have 
been this species. To the Philippines it appears to be a rare straggler : Cuming procured it m the island of 
Mindanao ; but Mr. Everett and recent collectors have not met with it iu this group. It is found among 
various islands in the Pacific, among which the Fiji group may be mentioned, whence Hartlaub records it. 
On the north coast of Australia and about Torres Straits it is not uncommon ; and I observe that Mr. Ramsay, 
in his list of Australian birds, notes it from Cape York, the Gulf of Carpentaria, and Port Darwin, as also 
from the south coast of New Guinea. Salvadori records it from Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Ternate, Amboina, 
and New Guinea; and recently Herr Meyer speaks of a specimen having been brought from Minahassa, in 
Celebes. 
Pants ,— This species does not appear to lead the active life which makes the various species of White 
Gannet sp conspicuous ; it has not the same vigorous, rapid flight, every now and then plunging from great 
heights like a thunderbolt into the sea, which, when sailing in the Cape or Australian seas, one cannot fail 
to notice at once in the case of Sula serrator or 8. capemis ; but it appears to fly leisurely along, nearer the 
water than these its congeners, now and then sweeping down after some unlucky fish. While affecting the 
vicinity of the shore it frequently sits on small rocks or on some isolated buoy, which kind of perch it 
invariably chooses when it is to be had. Its favourite food in the tropics seems to be flying-fisli, which it may 
often be seen chasing, flying after them and dashing on them in a slanting direction. It not unfrequently 
comes on board ship at night, perching usually on the extremity of the yard-arm, and while taking its rest 
