History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

118 BIRDS. PALMIPIDES. Sula.171. P. cristatus. Crested Shag.— Tail short, rounded, of12 feathers. Length, from the tipof the bill to the featherson the front, 2 inches 4 lines. ( Temm.)Pel. crist. Fab. Faun. Groen. 90—Carbo crist. Temm. Orn. ii. 900—Confoundedwith the preceding.Size like P. graculus, or larger. Bill brown. I rides green. Feet black.Plumage deep green, with a tinge of bronze on the back and wings each;feather with a black margin. Crown with a tuft of feathers, upwards of aninch long, and capable of erection. Nape with a crest of 10 or 12 long subulatefeathers. AVings reach to the base of the tail. Tail very short, rounded.Plumage destitute of the peculiar, slender, white feathers possessed by thetwo-preceding species. In winter the coronal tuft disappears. Nest and eggslike the shag. The young may readily be distinguished by their long slenderbill and short tail. Above, the plumage is greenish-brown beneath, cinereous-brown,with more or less white. The circumstance of each having on-;ly 12 tail-feathers, has caused the Common and Crested Shags to be confounded.The one noticed by Montagu in the Supp. Orn. Diet., as having beenkilled by Mr Bullock on the Bass, belongs to the latter species. The precedingcharacters, chiefly extracted from Temminck, will serve to point out thedistinction.In the proceedings of the Linnean " Society, Annals of Philosophy," vol.xxii. p. 152, it is stated, that, on 3d June 1823, there was read " a letter fromMr Robert Anstice, relative to a bird shot in the neighbourhood of Bridgewater,varying but little from the crested cormorant, and distinguished byhaving 16 feathers in the tail." No notice is taken of this circumstance inthe " Extracts from the Minute-book."— Linn. Trans, xiv. p. 582.Gen. LXXX. SULA. Gannet.— Margin of the bill serrated,extremity nearly straight.No occipital osseous appendage,as in the preceding genus.172. S. Bassoma. Common Gannet.— Plumage white, thecrown buff colour.Anser Bassanus, Will. Orn. 247. Sibb. Scot. 20 Pel. Bass. Linn. Syst.i. 217- Perm. Brit. Zool. ii. G12— S. alba, Temm. Orn. ii. 905 E,Gannet ; S, Solan Goose, Solan (Norse Sule) ; W, Gan.— Common.Length 3, breadth G feet ;weight 7 pounds. Bill (together with the nakedspot) bluish, 6 inches long, nearly straight,a little bent at the point, wherethere is a slightnail. Irides yellow. Legs and toes black, with green streaks,nails white. Bastard wing and greater quills black. Tail of 12 pointed feathers,the middle ones longest.— Nest of sea-weeds, on small inaccessibleislands. Eggs 1, white, rough Young, during the first year, with the plumagebrownish-black, the irides brown. The second year each feather abovehas a white spot at the end ; below, a dusky spot on each side of the shaft*Gannets breed in great numbers on the Bass, Souleskerry, St Kilda, Ailsa,and Skelig Islands. They betake themselves to the open sea during the winter,pursuing the shoals of herrings, pilchards, and other fish. They dartnearly vertically upon their prey in the water.The Great White Pelican (Pelecanm onocrelulus, Temm. Orn. ii. 891.), ana.tive of eastern Europe, Avas shot in England, at Horsey Fen, in 16G3, as appearsfrom a MS. of T. Brown of Norwich, in the British Museum. Dr