LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 227 



Behavior. — The flight of the gannet is a magnificent performance 

 as it soars aloft on its long, pointed, black-tipped wings, its spearlike 

 head and beak, and its slender tapering tail offering little resistance 

 to the air, as it sweeps in great circles far above the sea until almost 

 lost to sight in the blue sky. When traveling it flies close to the water, 

 flapping its wings and sailing at intervals with wings fully out- 

 stretched, after the manner of the pelicans. It is well built for speed 

 and its flight is powerful and long sustained. Its peculiar shape, 

 forming an almost perfect cross while soaring, serves to identify 

 it, as far as it can be seen. 



The vigorous plunge of the gannet from a great height, often 

 over a hundred feet, together with the momentum of its heavy body, 

 gives it a decided advantage over other diving birds in reaching 

 great depths. There have been some remarkable stories told of the 

 depths to which gannets dive, based on their having been caught 

 in fishermen's nets set at known depths. Mr. Gurney (1913) mentions 

 a number of such cases from which I infer that gannets frequently 

 dive to a depth of 60 or TO feet and occasionally over 100. It is 

 hardly conceivable that the gannet can penetrate to any such great 

 depths as these by the impetus of its plunge ; it must, therefore, swim 

 downward, probably using both wings and feet for propulsion. The 

 gannet is not only an expert diver, displaying great agility below the 

 surface, but it is also a strong swimmer above, wdiere it propels 

 itself rapidly with alternate strokes of its great paddles. A wounded 

 gannet is not an easy bird to catch. 



I have never heard gannets utter any vocal sound except on their 

 breeding grounds, where they are often quite noisy ; they indulge in 

 a variety of soft guttural notes among themselves in conversational 

 tones, and when disturbed a series of loud, grating grunts and croaks, 

 sounding like the syllables " kurruch, hrrrrruck " or " gorrrrrok^ 

 gorrrrck^'' the base accompaniment of the never ceasing chorus of 

 sounds in the mixed colonies of Bird Rock. Macgillivray (1852) 

 describes the notes as follows: 



Their cry is hoarse and harsh, and may be expi-essed by the syllables 

 carra, carra, or kirra, kirra, sometimes it is crac, crac, or era, era, or cree, eree. 

 The cry varies considerably in different individuals, some having a sharper 

 voice than others, and when unusually irritated they repeat it with great 

 rapidity. 



Gannets quarrel considerably among themselves on their breeding 

 grounds, but I can not find any evidence that they ever molest the 

 other species that breed near them. Morris (1903) describes — 



A battle bet\yeen a gannet and two full-grown male swans, the latter both 

 attacking at the same time, and following up the contest most vigorously with 

 the former, who defended himself most resolutely for a very long time, and 

 ultimately defeated the swans, beating them both off, and laying them pros- 



