The next family contains the famous "Boobies" of sailors--the stupid Gannets, or Solan Geese, that were too stupid to escape from danger. Gould says our Gannet out-boobies the Booby, for he landed on a flat rock and secured five specimens by hand before the rest shuffled over the edge of the cliff and took flight. The Australian bird can scarcely be distinguished from its British cousin. It is common in Australian seas, where it can be seen diving for fish or flying swiftly round looking for prey. There is a large Gannet rookery on Cat Island, east of Flinders Island, where probably 4000 pairs of these fine birds nest each year. This was visited by a party of ornithologists in the _Manawatu_ in 1908. The famous Frigate-Bird we read of in the old school readers was twice taken in Port Phillip Bay. It is the best of flyers, as it can "breakfast on the Senegal (Africa), and dine on the Amazon." The two Frigate-Birds are common in Australian tropical seas. As already mentioned we met the Frigate Bird on Mast Head Island. Its wings are long, the forked tail also is long, but the legs and feet are very small. It is a creature of the air, and gets its living by compelling hard-working sea-birds to disgorge their prey. The last bird in this varied Order is the Pelican. Our Australian Pelican is one of the largest of its tribe. Its enormous pouch distinguishes it at once. The ten Pelicans are practically world-wide in their distribution. On the trip of the _Manawatu_ last year round the islands of Bass Strait, we visited the Pelicans' nesting-place on Penguin Island. This bird is practically identical with the "Pelican of the wilderness" mentioned in Holy Writ. The Pelican enjoys a reputation for maternal care of her offspring; indeed, she was said to feed the young with her own blood. This was probably due to the fact that one species of Pelican has a blood-red tip to the bill. Young Pelicans have not the long bill or the pouch. Thus this bird illustrates the truth of the statement that each animal in its development climbs its own ancestral tree, or, to say it in another form, each animal in its development recapitulates the life-history of the race. The Pelican has evidently descended from birds that possessed a short bill. ==== [Page 68] [Illustration: [142] [143] [144] [145] [146]] ORDER XIV.--PELICANIFORMES. F. 59. PHALACROCORACIDAE (5), CORMORANTS, 42 sp.--16(14)A., 6(2)O., 7(3)P., 6(5)E., 10(4)Nc., 9(6)Nl. 5 42 =142 Cormorant= (Black), Black Shag, _Phalacrocorax carbo_., A., T., N.Z., cos. exc. S. Am. [~142-146 _Genus, Carbo._] c. _lagoons_, _sea_ 35 Glossy blackish-green; side of neck, face buffy white; white on thighs; f., sim. Fish. [Page 69] =143 Little Black Cormorant=, Shag, _P. sulcirostris_, Borneo to N.G., A., T., N.Z. [~142-146 _Genus, Carbo._] c. _lagoons_, _rivers_ 25