12 Dr. R. 0. Cunningham on the Solan Goose. 



and are large in proportion to the body : when the wings are 

 spread, from the end of one to the other they measure six feet. 

 This bird is eatable either roasted or salted : the Scots call it 

 Gentelman. It is a Bird of passage, or of the wandering un- 

 settled sort. It is not seen in this country before the latter end 

 of January, or beginning of February, when the herring-fishing 

 begins, and then it serves for a sign to give notice of the season. 

 They do not come nearer land than within half a mile; thus 

 the farmer observes when the fish seek the narrow and shallow 

 waters. At Easter these birds are not seen any more, therefore 

 I cannot say much about their breeding. They are so stupid 

 that by laying a few herrings upon a floating board, they may be 

 inticed to the boat and killed with the oar."* A most amusing 

 figure of the bird is given which exhibits the comb on the head 

 very distinctly. 



In the'Systema Naturse' the Solan Goose constitutes the fifth 

 species of the genus Pelecanus, and is thus characterized : " P. 

 Cauda cuneiformi, corpore albo, rostro serrato, remigihusque primo- 

 ribus nigris, facie ccerulea, -h- -x- Habitat in Pelago septentriOnali, 

 vix appropinquans littora per 2 milliai'ia ; indicat Halecum adven- 

 tum, quern sequitur Gentleman s. Jaen von Gent dicta"-f. 



The last account of the Solan Goose in the works of the older 

 authors to which I shall advert occurs in Walker's ' Essays on 

 Natural History and Rural Economy,' under a description (p. 308) 

 of the Bass and its productions. In the course of his remarks on 

 the habits of the bird, this writer quotes Harvey's account of its 

 nidification, and then goes on to say that his inquiry with regard 

 to certain particulars contained therein had found them to be 

 fabulous, for the keeper informed him that the birds " do not stand 

 upon their egg, as is commonly reported, but sit upon it with 

 their breast, which we saw indeed, like other fowls, but one of 

 their feet is always folded under them upon the egg. Neither 

 is it poised upon its end, but lies upon its side, and they turn 

 it like other fowls." 



* The Natural History of Norway, part. II. Translated from the 

 Danish Original of the Right Eevd. Erich Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen 

 in Norway, p. 76. 



t Editio Duodecima Reformata. Holmife, 176G. 



