SlILA CYANOPS. 
(THE YELLOW-EYED GANNET.) 
Sula cyanops, Sund. Phys. Sallsk. Tidsk. 1837, p. 218 ; Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1480 
(1873); Salvadori, Uccelli di Born. p. 367 (1874); Hume, Str. Feath. 1877, p. 307, 
et 1879, p. 116 (List B. of Ind.). 
Sula personata, Gould, P. Z. S. 1846, p. 21 ; id. B. of Austr. vii. pi. 77 (1848). 
Tysporus cyanops (Sund.), Finsch & Hartlaub, Orn. Centr.-Polyn. p. 252 (1867). 
The Masked Gannet, Gould. 
Adult females (Raine Island; ‘Challenger’ Exp.). Wing 15-7 to 16-0 inches; tail 7 - 0 to 7 - 5 ; tarsus 2-2 to 2-3; 
outer toe and claw 3'5 ; bill at front 4'1 to 4-2, to gape 5 - 2. — Male and female (Mekran coast). “ Length 32’0 to 
33-0 ; wing 16-5 ; tail 7 - 25 to 7‘5 ; bill at front 4-0 to 4-06 ; bill to gape 4T2 to 5-0 ” {Butler). — Adidts (Red 
Sea). “ Length 307 to 31-8 ; wing 17'8 to 18-1 ; tail 7 - 67 to 8-77 ; tarsus 2-1 to 2-2 ; bill at front 4-12, at 
gape 4'93 ” {Heuglin). 
Note. This species has 16 tail-feathers. 
Iris yellow, reddish yellow, or greenish yellow ; bill yellow or greenish yellow ; loral and facial skin dark slate-colour ; 
legs and toes dark slaty or plumbeous ; webs darker. 
Obs. Mr. Hume, in his valuable notice of this species (Str. Feath. 1877), gives a list of the descriptions of the “ soft 
parts ” of this species by various authors, to show how much they vary. The discrepancies, however, as regards 
what are presumed adults, in his table do not appear to be greater than one would expect in the case of birds of 
perhaps different ages from widely distaut localities. The four specimens last in the table are evidently all 
immature. Mr. Murray, the naturalist of the ‘ Challenger,’ describes the soft parts of the Raine-Island specimen as 
follows : — “ Iris yeliow ; skin of the throat black ; logs and feet slate-colour.” 
Adult female (Raine Island). Plumage white ; the primaries and their coverts, greater wing-coverts and secondaries, 
as also the tips of the tertials and scapulars, brownish black ; inner webs of the secondaries basally white ; tail 
very dark brown, somewhat paler than the primaries, the basal portion of the feathers white, extending along 
the edges of the central pair ; under wing white. 
Young. The nestling is covered with white down {fide Finsch). 
Immature in first plumage. Iris dusky yellow ; face and basal portion of bill blue, passing into olive at the tips ; legs 
and feet olive, the webs darker. “ Plumage uniform greyish brown ” {Finsch). 
In the succeeding stage the plumage is white, more marked with dark colour than the adult. 
The following is a description of an immature example procured in Ceylon in the month of April : — Length 32-0 inches ; 
wing L7'0 ; tail 9’0 ; tarsus 1*9 ; middle toe and claw 4-0 ; bill to gape 5-3. 
Rill blackish at base and tip ; the remainder in the dried specimen reddish, probably yellow when living ; legs and feet 
black. 
Plumage white, tinged with salmon-colour beneath ; the primaries, secondaries, wing-coverts, primary-coverts, scapulars 
and tail dull black, the following parts being white, e.g. the inner webs of the longer or underlying scapulars, also 
of the secondaries and the primaries to within 3 or 4 inches of the tips, and likewise the bases of the wing-covert 
feathers ; upper tail-coverts with a drop- shaped black patch near the tips of the feathers. 
Captain Butler records the soft parts of specimens in immature plumage shot on the Mekran coast as follows : Iris 
pale green (?) ; bill pale bluish hc-rny ; bare skin of face and chin slate-colour ; feet lavender-blue. The colour 
of the iris is here at variance with that noted by any other naturalist ; and one is almost inclined to think that 
the specimens have been wrongly identified. 
Obs. Sula piscatriv, Linn., which is found in the Malay archipelago, may perhaps occur as far north as Ceylon. 
It has the legs and feet red ; bill and facial skin light blue. Plumage white, with the head and neck tinged with 
buff ; primaries, greater coverts, and secondaries brown, tinged with grey ; edge of the under wing brown. "Wing 
14-5 to 16‘4 inches. These notes, except the dimension of the wing, are taken from a Torres-Straits specimen. 
