GANNEf. 499 



can force it to immerse. Upon the water it swims as buoy- 

 ant as a gull. When offered fish they will take it, but will 

 never go into a pond after it : and from every appearance 

 of their actions on water, to which they will only go from 

 compulsion, they cannot procure the fish beyond the extent 

 of their neck. At certain times they rise from the water 

 with so much difficulty, that they are easily run down by a 

 boat ; but when thus surprised defend themselves with vigor. 

 According to Montagu, it is destitute of nostrils, or they 

 are so concealed as to be rendered obsolete. The buoyancy 

 of the Gannet is augmented to a great degree, by the power 

 it possesses of transmitting air from the lungs, not only into 

 the cavity of the body, but also into the cellular membrane 

 which covers a great part of its exterior. 



The Gannet is about 3 feet long; the alar extent 6. The bill 

 about 6 inches long, of a soiled yellowish-white ; when the bird is 

 alive, of a bright bluish-grey ; near the base of the upper mandible 

 is a sharp process and suture, which enables the bird to move it a 

 little in the act of swallowing large fish. Iris pale yellow. Chin 

 naked, dusky. Whole plumage white, except the crown of the head, 

 which is buff colored. The legs dusky, in front bluish-yellow; 

 along the ridge of the two forward toes, the connecting membrane 

 is unusually strong, and nearly as transparent as glass. In the 

 young of the year the upper plumage is of a blackish-brown, and 

 without spots. B eloio hrown varied with cinereous ; the bill, naked 

 parts, and iris brown, and with the tail rounded. In the second 

 moult, or at the complete age of a year, the head, neck, and breast, 

 are of a greyish-brown, covered with small, approximating, lanceo- 

 late, white spots; the back, rump, and wings of the same cinereous- 

 brown, bearing large white lanceolate spots, but more distant from 

 each other. Beloio whitish, varied with grey-brown. Wings and 

 tail brown, shafts of the latter white. Naked parts of the face blu- 

 ish-brown. Bill grey-brown, but whitish towards the point. Iria 

 yellowish. Front of the tarsus, and upper part of the toes greenish- 

 brown ; the streaks upon the tarsus and toes of a grey white ; the 

 membranes cinereous-brown, and the nails whitish. — At tico years 



