140 JOTTINGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



(law, the Peregrine Falcon, and the Rock Dove also 

 breed regularly thereon. There can be little doubt 

 that the Bass is visited by various other species of 

 land birds during the seasons of spring and autumn 

 migration, but, owing to the utter absence of 

 observers, they pass unnoticed. At the isle of May, 

 a few miles to the eastward, and where there is a 

 lighthouse, much migration has been remarked, 

 and several rare wanderers have been obtained. As 

 a "stepping-stone," or resting-place for birds cross- 

 ing the Forth, the Bass must often prove most 

 welcome, although the May is more favourably 

 situated in the path of migrants. 



The one bird that predominates over all others, 

 land birds and sea-fowd alike, is the Gannet {S\da 

 bassand). As is well known, the Gannet is closely 

 allied to the Cormorants, and by many authorities 

 is included in the same family. There are, however, 

 many important structural differences between the 

 Gannets and the Cormorants, which appear to 

 warrant the birds being placed in separate families. 

 The Gannets are chiefly birds of the tropics, but 

 range in the southern hemisphere at least as far 

 south as New Zealand. But one species is found 

 in the North Atlantic Basin, and this is the one 

 that breeds so abundantly on the Bass. During 



