130 Biitish Birds. 



eggs are like those of the Cormorant, but ai'e smaller, seldom exceeding two-and-a- 

 half inches in length : they have a chalky outer covering, which conceals the 

 green colour of the egg. 



The Gannets have the same formation of the foot as in 



t- I J onr -r, thc CormoraRts, but the shape of the bill is different, and 

 Sub-orcier SUL.E. ' 



they are further distinguished by several anatomical and 

 osteological characters. 



The Common Gannet [Dvsponis bassanus). The adult bird is white, with a 

 tinge of ochreous buff on the head and back, and the primary-quills are black. 

 Before the adult stage of plumage is reached, however, the bird goes through several 

 stages, and it is some years before the perfect plumage is gained. The nestlings are 

 at first naked and black, and they afterwards become covered with white down which 

 lasts till the bird is of a good size. The next plumage is brown, speckled with white, 

 the under surface being white, mottled with grey. After the next moult the birds 

 become more uniformly coloured below, and the head and neck are mottled with 

 white, which increases with successive moults until the full white plumage is 

 attained. 



The Gannet breeds in colonies, of which a few are found on our coasts, the most 

 celebrated being the Bass Rock and Ailsa Craig. Similar colonies exist in the 

 Faroes, Iceland, and a few places on the Atlantic Coast of North America. In 

 winter the birds are found considerably to the southward of their nesting haunts. 

 The Gannet is a bird of most powerful flight, and fishes, as it nests, in company, 

 descending on its prey from a great height above the water, though it does not settle 

 on the water so often as the Shags or Cormorants. The nest is made of sea-weed 

 and only one egg is laid, of a chalky white, which has to be removed before the 

 blue colour of the egg can be discerned. The length is about two-and-three-quarters 

 to three-and-a-quarter inches. 



