BOOBY, the English name for a genus of Pdeeanidce (Dysporus of linger, Mortis of Vieillot, Lea Fours of the French), separated with good reason from the true Pelicans by Brisson under the name of Sala.
The term Booby is more particularly applied by navigators to that species (Sala lima of Brisson) which inhabits: tho desolate islands and coasts where the climate is warm or even temperate throughout the greater part of the globe. The apparent stupidity of the Boobies in proverbial ; calmly waiting to be knocked on the head as they sit on shore, or perching on the yard of a ship till the sailor climbs to their resting-place and takes, them off with his hand, they fall an easy prey to the most artless bird.cateher. Even Byron's shipwrecked wretches, though "Stagnant on the sea They lay like carcases," "caught two boobies and a noddy ;" and the incident actually did occur in Bligh 's celebrated heat-voyage, consequent on the mutiny on board the Bounty, when he and his boat's craw were in a most deplorable state.
"Monday, the 25th," says Bligh, "at noon, some noddies came so near to us that one of them was caught by hand. . . . In the evening, several boobies flying very near to us, wo had the good fortune to catch one of them. . . . I directed the bird to be killed for supper, and the blood to be given to three of the people who were the most distressed for want of food. The body, with the entrails, beak, and feet, I divided into eighteen shams. . . . Tuesday, tho 26th. In the morning we caught another booby, so that Providence appeared to be relieving our wants in an extraordinary manner. The people were overjoyed at the addition to their dinner, which was distributed in the same manner as on the preceding evening, giving the blood to those who were the most in want of food." Dampier says that in the Alcrane islands (Alacmnes), on the coast of Yucatan, the crowds of these birds were so great that he could not pass their haunts without being incommoded by their peeking. He observed that they were ranged in pairs, and conjectured that they were male and female. He succeeded in making some fly away by the blows he bestowed on them, but the greater part remained in spite of his efforts to compel them to take flight. De Genues, in his voyage to the Straits of Magalhaens, says that in the Island of Ascension there were such quantities of Boobies that the sailors killed five or six at a time with one blow of a stick. The 'Vicomte de
Querhoent says that the French soldiers killed an immense quantity at this same island, and that their loud cries when disturbed at night were quite overpowering.
This apparent exception to the general rule of self-preserving instinct is so remarkable, that we are led to look for some cause, and perhaps this is to be found in the structure of the animal ; for according to many writers whose veracity cannot be questioned, the Boobies stay to be taken and killed after they have become familiar with the effect produced by the blows or shot of their persecutors. In the case of most other animals, which, from not knowing his power, have suffered man to approach them to their destruction, alarm has been soon taken, the idea of danger has been speedily associated with his appearance, and safety has been sought in flight ; but the wings of the Booby ars so long and its legs no short, that when once at rest on level ground the bird has great difficulty in bringing the former into action, and when so surprised it has no resource but to put on a show of resistance with its beak, which is to be sure generally despised by the aggressor.
In the cases recorded by Bligh the birds were probably fatigued by wandering too far from the rocky shores, which are their ordinary haunts. Thero they are generally to be seen constantly on the wing over the waves which beat at the foot of the crags, intent on fishing. Though so well furnished with oars, they are said to swim but seldom, and never to dive. Their mode of taking their prey is by dashing down from on high with unerring aim upon those fishes which fre quent the surface, and instantly rising again into the air. They walk with difficulty, and when at rest on land their attitude is nearly vertical, and they lean on the stiff feathers of the tail, like the cormorants, as a third point of support. The lodges of rocks or cliffs covered with herbage are the places generally selected for the neat, and there in great companies they lay their eggs, each hen bird depo siting from two to three. The young birds for some days after their exclusion are covered with a down, so long and thick that they resemble powder-puffs made of swan's down.