GANNET 285 



larger relative. I found many pairs breeding there 

 in May and June 1864 {ZooL, 1865, p. 9675). The 

 time of laying appears to be very uncertain. I saw 

 young birds that could fly, others that could not, 

 eggs, and empty nests on the same day. Unlike the 

 Cormorant, the Shag has not been found nesting 

 away from the sea. 



The changes of plumage which this bird under- 

 goes have been minutely described by Mr. Blake 

 Knox {Zool, 1866, pp. 243, 328). In the breeding 

 plumage it has a semi-erect crest, curved slightly 

 forward, the longest feathers measuring two inches. 

 This is absent in the winter plumage. The number 

 of tail-feathers in the Shag is twelve ; in the Cor- 

 morant, fourteen. In 1884 an albino shag was 

 killed in Shetland [Zool, 1884, p. 342). 



Weight, 4 to 5 lbs. 



GANNET or SOLAN GOOSE. Sula hassana (Linnaeus). 

 PI. 32, figs. 1, 12, 2a. Length, 36 in.; bill, 3-95 in.; 

 wing, 19 in. ; tarsus, 2"25 in. 



It has been pointed out by Prof. R. Cunningham 

 in an excellent article on this bird [Ihis, 1866, pp. 

 L-23), that in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (a.d. 975) 

 allusion is made to the sea as the ganote's hath. 

 The name Gannet, according to Prof. Newton (" Diet. 

 Birds ") is from an old base, gan (German gans), which 

 also supplied the Greek xnv and the Latin anser. 

 Solan, he adds, " is no doubt from the Scandinavian 

 sula, whatever that may mean." On this it may 

 be remarked that Solan is presumably the Icelandic 



