Booby

a sea bird of the gannet kind allied to the pelican and cormorant. It is found on subtropical coasts as far north as Cape Hatteras. It is a bird of powerful wing and lives on fish, which it takes by pouncing down on them. It is frequently forced to surrender its prey to the frigate or man-of-war bird,--a pelican-like bird that ought to fish for itself. The booby nests on islets from Florida southward, laying a single egg in a low nest heaped with seaweed. It has a name for stupidity on account of the unsuspicious way in which, formerly at least, it allowed sailors to approach its nest or to knock it over with a stick. See Bird; Cormorant