Pelecanus piscator Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 134.
Sula piscator Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 432;
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 39.
Sula piscatrix Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 237; Oates, Cat. Birds'
Eggs (1902), 2, 210.
Mindanao (Steere Exp.). Oceania, southern Atlantic, Indian and
Australian seas.
"Adult.--General color pure white; primaries, primary-coverts,
outer webs and tips of secondaries, and secondary-coverts hoary gray,
inclining to blackish on outermost quills in freshly molted birds, and
to blackish in worn specimens; chin and upper part of throat naked,
the feathers ending in a straight line across throat; tail composed
of fourteen, or sometimes sixteen feathers. Iris gray; bill grayish
blue, shading into pink or reddish toward the base; naked skin round
eye blue; gular pouch dark slate or black; legs and feet vermilion,
red or dark pink, almost magenta.
"Adult male.--Length, about 750; culmen from feathers on forehead,
89; wing, 394; tail, 10 to 28; tarsus, 35.
"Adult female.--Length, about 710; culmen from feathers on forehead,
81 to 88; wing, 373 to 375; tail, 208 to 210; tarsus, 35.
"Immature in first plumage.--Entire plumage above and below brown,
lighter on breast and belly; primaries and secondaries and their
coverts like those of the adult, but the inner webs of the secondaries
black. Cutting edges of the mandible sometimes serrated, and the inner
margin of the middle claw pectinate. Bill bluish pink, the latter
predominating toward the base; naked skin round eye dark leaden hue;
gular pouch flesh-colored.
"More adult specimens (perhaps in the plumage of the second year)
head, neck, and under parts white; back, wings, and tail brown as in
the immature; middle tail-feathers dark, brownish gray toward the base,
shading into white toward the extremity.
"A still more adult bird has a large amount of white or partially
white feathers mixed with the brown of the back and wings.
"I should imagine that the fully adult plumage is not attained until
the third or perhaps the fourth year. This species may be recognized
in all stages of plumage by the hoary gray appearance on the outer
webs of the quills." (Grant.)