THE GANNET 337 



Gannets commence breeding early in May, not simultaneously 

 though, for even no\Y, at the time of our visit, in the middle 

 of the month, many birds may be seen flying about with nest 

 material in their beaks. The nests are built either on the 

 rugged summit of the cliffs, where you can obtain their eggs 

 with very little exertion or danger, or far down the precipices 

 on the ledges and platforms to within a hundred and fifty 

 feet of the sea. The nest is not a very bulky structure, nor 

 is there anything very attractive in its appearance, and the 

 stench arising from the dead fish lying round it, and the 

 droppings of the birds which cover it and the surrounding 

 rocks, is often most offensive. It is made of seaweed snatched 

 from the water, turf from the summit of the cliffs, straws and 

 a little moss, and is very shallow — well described as a 

 flattened cone. It is either placed on the flat rock, or 

 amongst the loose fragments and in the rugged hollows. 

 Numbers of nests are built close together; every available 

 site in some places is occupied ; and great is the struggling, 

 biting, and quarrelling incessantly going on where the birds 

 live in such close companionship. The ^g^^ of the Gannet, for 

 but one is laid, is very pale bluish-green when first deposited, 

 but soon becomes soiled by contact with the materials of the 

 dirty nest and the bird's wet feet and plumage. To such an 

 extent are some of the eggs discoloured that they resemble 

 those of the Kestrel in richness of tint. Gannets' eggs are 

 covered with a chalky substance, like those of the Cormorant, 

 which is easily scraped away. If the first ^g^ is removed, 

 another will be laid several times in succession. It has 

 been said that the Gannet sometimes lays two eggs, but 

 this is erroneous. Two eggs may sometimes be seen 

 in a nest on the top of the cliff, but they have been placed 

 there by mischievous human visitors, not by the birds. 

 I know of no bird that seems to think so lightly of its egg 

 as the Gannet, or that uses it so roughly, treading on it 



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