THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA, 
Range. New South Wales ; Victoria ; Tasmania ; South Austraha ; West Australia. 
Adult male. General colour above and below pure white ; crown of head, sides of face, 
and upper hind-neck golden buff ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills dark 
greyish-brown, paler and more hoary grey on the inner webs of the quills : the 
latter have white shafts towards the base ; the four middle tail-feathers greyish- 
brown with white shafts, remainder of tail white. Bill slate, bare skin on the 
face slate-blue : iris silver-grey, feet dull greenish-black with the toes hght 
green. Total length 980 mm. ; culmen 89, wing 470, tail 240, tarsus 60. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Immature. General colour above greyish-brown, all the feathers tipped with white, 
wedge-shaped on the back, scapulars, wing-coverts, head, and hind neck, and edged 
with white at the tips of the primary-quills ; under-surface for the most part 
white, with some brown feathers on the throat, fore-neck, and thighs. 
Nestling. Covered with white down. 
Nest. Composed on the ground, shaped like a flat cone from 4 to 6 inches high. Egg cavity 
from 6 to 8 inches by one to two deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, one ; hme covered. Axis 78 to 82 mm. ; diameter 49-50. 
Breeding-season. October to January. 
This fine bird, the Australian representative of the “ Bird with a History ” 
of European fame, seems to have little recorded history. 
Mr. J. W. Mellor has written me : “ This Gannet is seen in fair numbers 
along the coast of South Australia, but does not care so much for the small 
inlets, keeping more to the open and rougher seas. I have noted it along 
the southern shores of Kangaroo Island, and also in Spencer’s Gulf from Port 
Lincoln upwards. The greatest sight that I ever saw in connection with 
the breeding of these birds was on Cat Island, near Babel Island in Bass 
Straits, while on the Royal Australasian Ornithologists’ Union’s 8th Congress 
Expedition in the S.S. ‘ Manawatu.’ An extract from my diary reads : 
‘ Dec. 4, 1908. We weighed anchor at 5 a.m., and steamed north to the end 
of Flinders Island where we left a party of nine to investigate Flinders Island 
in this locality ; the steamer then rounded Flinders Island, ^nd steamed 
south to Cat Island, where we cast anchor at noon, and after lunch the whole 
party landed to view the Gannet rookery, where the birds covered about an 
acre of ground. The birds were sitting on their nests, which were placed 
thickly over the whole of the area ; many nests contained large young, 
while others had eggs in all stages of incubation. The sight of this vast horde 
of bird life was truly inspiring, as it was estimated that 8,000 to 10,000 birds 
were breeding here. The birds were extremely tame, allowing us to go 
amongst them without flying off their nests. The clutch was one egg ; the 
nests were small mounds of dirt and excreta, which had accumulated for 
years, as the place had apparently been used for ages by the birds. The silver 
gulls were about amongst the gannets, and were quick to spy an unprotected 
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