The brown booby (Sula leucogaster) is a large seabird of the booby family Sulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species. It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious brown booby commutes and forages at low height over inshore waters. Flocks plunge-dive to take small fish, especially when these are driven near the surface by their predators. They only nest on the ground, and roost on solid objects rather than the water surface. Taxonomy The brown booby was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1781. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Buffon did not include a scientific name with his description but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Pelecanus leucogaster in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The type locality is Cayenne in French Guiana. The current genus Sula was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The word Sula is Norwegian for a gannet; the specific leucogaster is from Ancient Greek leuko for "white" and gastēr for "belly". There are four recognised subspecies: S. l. leucogaster (Boddaert, 1783) – Caribbean and Atlantic Islands S. l. brewsteri Nathaniel Stickney Goss, 1888 – Pacific coasts of USA and Mexico S. l. etesiaca Thayer & Bangs, 1905 – Pacific coasts of Central America and Colombia S. l. plotus (Forster, JR, 1844) – Red Sea through the Indian Ocean to the west and central Pacific Description The booby's head and upper body (back) is covered in dark brown to black plumage, with the remainder (belly) being a contrasting white. The bare part colours vary geographically, but not seasonally. The species also displays sexual dimorphism of the bare part colours, the males having a blue orbital ring, as opposed to the yellow orbital ring of the female. In addition the male of subspecies S. l. brewsteri is distinctly plumaged in having the forehead, forecrown and chin white, merging to a greyish brown neck and breast. The female booby reaches about in length, her wingspan measures up to , and she can weigh up to . The male booby reaches about in length, his wingspan measures up to ,