68 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



of the rocks or fast asleep with their bills and heads 

 almost hidden amongst their dorsal plumage." 



The sight of this bird fishing, however, is quite 

 as interesting as that when breeding, and I have 

 had many opportunities of witnessing this amongst 

 the western islands of Scotland. 



To begin with, the Gannet is very strong on the 

 wing and possessed of an unusually powerful bill. 

 No day seems too stormy for it, and it is at such 

 times that the bird arrests one's attention more than 

 at others ; for rising to a height of a hundred feet 

 or so, and poising for a second or two, it plunges 

 perpendicularly down with closed wings into the sea 

 with tremendous force, and never seems to fail in 

 obtaining the fish it has spotted from aloft, so keen 

 is its eye and unerring its aim as to overcome even 

 the difficulty of the roughest of seas. 



I used to be amazed when watching^ these birds 

 fishing in stormy weather to see their marvellous 

 power of eyesight. 



In Gowan's Nature Books, No. i, entitled "Wild 

 Birds at Home," there is something very interesting 

 about the Gannet, which I append verbatim : " The 

 Gannet is provided with a wonderful apparatus in 

 the shape of a series of small sacs lying immediately 

 beneath the skin of the breast. These sacs it can 

 at will inflate, thus forming a pneumatic cushion to 

 enable it to resist the impact caused by meeting the 

 water after its headlong descent from on high, and 

 also rendering its return to the surface more easy on 

 account of this added bouyancy." 



