Plate CCCXXVI. Adult Male, and Young.
Adult with the bill pale bluish-grey, tinged with green towards the base; bare space about the eye, lines on the bill and gular membrane blackish-blue; tarsi, toes, and webs, brownish-black, the scutella light greenish-blue, claws greyish-white; general colour of plumage white; upper part of head and hind neck buff-coloured; primary quills brownish-black, their shafts white toward the base. Young at first covered with very soft white down; when fully fledged, with the bill light greyish-brown, the bare space around the eye pale greyish-blue; feet dusky, the narrow bands of scutella pale greyish-blue; head, neck, and upper parts, chocolate-brown, each feather with a terminal narrow triangular white spot; lower parts greyish-white, spotted with greyish-brown, each feather having a broad terminal margin of that colour; quills and tail-feathers brownish-black.
Adult, 401/2, 75. Young fledged, 38, 72.
Ranges southward off the coast at all seasons as far as the Gulf of Mexico. Breeds on rocks on the Gulf of St Lawrence, and off the coast of Labrador. Abundant. Migratory.
Sula bassana, Bonap. Syn. p. 408.
Gannet, Sula bassana, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 495.
Common Gannet, Sula bassana, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 222.
426. 2. Sula fusca, Linn. Booby Gannet.
Plate CCVII. Male.
Bill and naked parts at its base bright yellow, the former flesh-coloured toward the end; a dusky spot before the eye; tarsi, toes, and webs pale yellow, claws white; head, neck all round, upper parts in general, and lower surface of wings dusky brown, tinged with grey; breast, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts, pure white. Young when fledged of a greyish-brown colour all over, the breast and abdomen being merely a little lighter than the rest; bill and claws dusky; tarsi and toes with their membranes dull yellow.
Male, 31, 491/4.
Gulf of Mexico, and as far east as the coast of Georgia. Breeds on the Fortugas Keys, south of Florida. Abundant. Migratory.