THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Ogilvie-Grant was shown some years ago and I will show later that Linne’s 
Pelecanus piscator is untenable and that we must fall back upon Lmne’s 
Pelecanus sula for the piscator bird. Firstly, P. hassanus Linne is 
distinguished from all other members of the family SuUdce by its large size 
and feathered face. When Baird, Brewer and Ridgway wrote : “ Dysporus : 
the latter including only the S. bassana,'’ this was governed by its reference 
to American birds only, for superficially wherever S. hassana is genericaUy 
placed, the South African capensis and the Australasian serrator must 
follow. That is, at the first glance, Pelecanus hassanus Linne, Dysporus 
capensis Lichtenstein, and Sula serrator Gray form a natural group separated 
by the feathering of the face from all the other Gannets. This superficial 
difference is emphasized by the fact that the tail is composed of twelve 
feathers only, whereas in every other Gannet the tail consists of fourteen, 
sixteen, or eighteen feathers. Although the “ hassana ” group show the 
greatest wing-length, it has comparatively the shortest biU, and though 
possessed of a long tail, this is exceeded proportionately by other members 
of the family. The culmen is less than twice the length of the tarsus and 
less than half the length of the tail, while the tail is less than half the wing 
in length. These proportions are shown by no other Gannet, though common 
to the three above associated. 
These facts would, in any other group, force the acknowledgment of 
the validity of the generic distinction by a scientific ornithologist. I now 
show a character which necessitates the instant admission of this generic 
group. The most reckless genus-lumper must be convinced that these birds 
deserve generic recognition when the scaly coverings of the legs and feet 
are demonstrated. I here give carefuUy-prepared drawings of the legs and 
feet of Piscatrix sula ruhripes (Gould) and Sulita serrator dyotti (Mathews). The 
former shows the characters I have detailed under the generic heading {ante) 
and the difference seen may be thus described. In the genus Sulita the 
toe-covering consists of a single row of regular scutes very distinct, and 
this row is continued in each case up the front of the metatarsus, a condition 
I have not heretofore observed in any bird, though I have closely examined 
the legs of most of the species of the Orders Ralliformes, Podicipiformes, 
Procellarii formes, Lariformes, Charadriiformes, Ardeiformes and Anseriformes. 
This extraordinary leg-covering only occurs in the three Gannets 
superficially associated as above, and is a wonderful confirmation of the 
accurate gauging of such characters. This leg-covering is seen in the downy 
young, with the egg-tooth still preserved in Sulita hassana, exactly as it is shown 
in the adult. This proves the ancient character of this feature. Now in the 
downy young of Piscatrix sula, as shown above, the characters seen in the adult 
204 
