THE GANNET, 521 



THE GANNET. 



About seven miles out at sea from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, 

 on Gannet Rock, surrounded by the surging sea and acces- 

 sible only after a long calm, the Common Gannet or Solan * 

 Goose i^Sula bassand) still breeds in considerable numbers. 

 About 31 inches long, the long bill is stout at the base, taper- 

 ing to a point, and slightly decurved at the tip, being cleft to 

 beyond the eyes, and having the edges serrate or lacerate; 

 the wings are long and pointed; the long, stiff tail is wedge- 

 shaped and 12-14 feathered; and the feet are nearer to the 

 center of the body than is common to the order. The gen- 

 eral form resembles that of a Goose. The color of the 

 adult is white with black primaries, and an amber-yellow 

 wash over the head; lores and bill bluish or dusky, small, 

 naked gular sack, and feet, blackish, the latter having the 

 front of the tarsus and the toes greenish. The young, 

 which are white in the down, become gray, with a triangular 

 white spot in the tip of each feather, and in England and 

 Scotland are taken in great numbers as food. 



Spread out in flight, the snowy Gannet is a grand figure. 

 Its movement is firm and steady, alternately flapping 

 and sailing. 



Scarcely can the Gull, the Buzzard, or the Eagle cut finer 

 circles in the air, and nothing is more characteristic of this 

 bird than its manner of diving for food. It does not drop 

 down upon the surface of the water, after the manner of the 

 Gulls and Terns, nor does it dive from the surface like the 

 Cormorants and so many other birds, but pitches straight 

 down, headforemost, with almost closed wings, from a con- 

 siderable or even a great height in the air, shooting out of 

 sight with great force amidst the spray. Taking advantage 

 of this direct and swift movement, the old countrymen 



* Solan is a corruption of Solent^ the name of the narrow sea between the Isle of Wight 

 and the main land of England, where this species is common. 



