SULA FUSCA, Briss.
Brown Gannet.
Sula fusca, Briss. Om., tom. vi. p. 499. tab. 43. fig. 1 —Id . 8vo, tom. ii. p. 491.—Vieill. Gal. des Ois., tom. ii.
pi. 2 7 7—Bonap. Syn. Birds o f Am., p. 4 0 8—Nu tt. Man., vol. ii. p. 500.—Aud. Birds of Am. vol.iii.
pi. 207 ; Om. Bio., vol. iii. p. 6 3 ; Syn. Birds of Am., p. 310.—Bonap. L ist o f E ur. and Am. Birds,
p. 60.
Brown Booby, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. vi. p. 613.—lb . Gen. Hist., vol. x. p. 441.
Sula Brasiliensis, Spix, Av. Sp. Nov., tom. ii. tab. cvii. p. 84.
Sula fiber, List o f B irds in B rit. Mus. Coll., p a r t iii. p. 183.
Pelecanus fiber, T.inn. Syst. Na t., vol. i. p. 218.—Gmel. Edit. Linn. Syst. Na t., vol. i. p. 579.- Lath. Ind. Om.,
, vol. ii. p . 893.—Catesby’s Car., vol. i. pi- 87. p . 8 7 —Bonn, e t Vieill. Ency. Moth. Om., p a r ti, p. 48.
pi. 16. fig. 2.
------------ Sula, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 218.
------------ plotus, Forst. Icon. Ined. 108 ?
Mar-ga, Aborigines o f P o rt Essington.
Booby, of th e Colonists.
T h e Gannet figured in the accompanying Plate, which may perhaps be identical with the Pelecanus fiber of
Linnaeus, is abundantly dispersed round the northern shores of the Australian continent; I have specimens
killed within the harbour at Port Essington, and from Raines Island in Torres’ Straits, where it breeds in
considerable numbers.
The plumage o f the two sexes is so precisely similar that it is utterly impossible to distinguish them by
external observation ; it is true that the colouring of the feet, face and other soft parts is not always alike,
but this difference I believe to be the result of age, rather than o f a. difference in sex ; and if this opinion
be correct, the bright yellow-coloured feet are indicative of the bird being fully adult, and the olive-brown
o f its being immature.
In its habits, manners, mode of life, and in the nature of its food, this species resembles the other members
of the genus.
Head, neck, breast, all the upper surface, wings and tail dark chocolate-brown; under surface pure
white, separated from the brown of the breast by a sharply defined lin e ; irides very pale yellow; hill and
orbits primrose-yellow, blotched before and beneath the eye with bluish; eyelash light ash-grey; legs and
feet pale yellow.
The figures represent adult birds rather less than the natural size.