II.— GANNETS AND CORMORANTS. 



The Gannets and Cormorants are of the Pelican family, the most 

 aristocratic of the sea-fowl ; they owe their position on the avian 

 tree to various structural peculiarities which we need not enter 

 into now ; but there is one other reason, unconnected with structure, 

 which places them far above the Grebes, Divers, Guillemots and such- 

 like birds, and that is the condition of their young when newly 

 hatched, small, naked, blind, and as utterly helpless for weeks as 

 a young thrush or sparrow. The eggs are small proportionately 

 to the size of the bird,* and offer a marked contrast in this respect 

 to the enormous egg of the Guillemot- or Razor-bill. 



The Gannet. 



The Gannet, or Solan Goose, breeds round the British coast 

 on rocky islands, on the precipitous cliffs often far out in the open 

 sea, and occasionally close to civilization. The number of birds 

 forming one of these breeding colonies varies, of course, greatly in 

 different stations, but is alwa}'s considerable. They are eminently 

 gregarious and probably no colony consists of less than 25 pairs of 

 birds, and more often numbers 500, or 1,000 pairs or more. 



There is but one breeding station round the English, coast, 

 Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel. In former times, large 

 numliers of Gannets bred here, but owing to constant persecution, 

 the numbers have dwindled and dwindled, and at the present date, 

 the colony, if it exists at all, is probably the smallest round the 

 British coasts. Off the Pembrokeshire coast a recently formed and 

 increasing colony exists on Grasholm Island, of which I propose to 

 treat presently. In Scotland, the Bass Rock, from which place the 

 bird derives its specific name, on the east, and Ailsa Craig on the west, 

 are the two most commonly known stations. But there are also 

 large colonies in the St. Kilda Group ; on a rock, Sulisgeir, north of 

 the Lewis ; and on the Stack and Skerr\- (Suliskerry), in the 

 Atlantic, west of Stromness in the Orkney Islands. In Ireland, 



* Average size of the egg, about 8 cm. x 5 cm. ; average weight, 3 oz. Length of adult 

 bird, 84 cm. to 95.5 cm. ; weight, 4J lbs. to G\ lbs, — Editor. 



