350 



CORMORANT GROUP 



superseded cither by the " sola " (or " sula "), or the " sola-i^oose." It is, 

 however, too well established to be altered, even if such a course were 

 desirable. It should be added that by some writers tiie j^annet is 

 called Dysponis bassaiuis, instead of by the name here employed. 

 No one is like!)' to mistake a i^annet for any other species, especially 

 when it is borne in mind that it is the only British bird other than 

 the cormorant and shags in which all four toes are joined by wcbbini^. 

 A very short description will therefore suffice. In leni^th a gannet 

 measures approximately the same as a cormorant, that is to say, 

 about a yard, but it is a somewhat heavier bird, generally weighing 



about 8 J lbs. When 

 fully adult, the jjlumage 

 is mainl)' white, except 

 on the hind part of the 

 head and neck, where it 

 is tinged with cream\- 

 buff, and the greater 

 wing-coverts and quills, 

 which are black ; the eyes 

 being yellowish white, 

 the beak bluish gre\', 

 tinged at the base with 

 green, the bare skin on 

 the throat and round the 



£ W'^k f / / ' — *■ ' * '•'^BJK^'^ eyes black, and the legs 



IbvJLl^Ji'iiAMjHK .A^jik..*illB^ and toes black with 



GANNKT (aijli.t mai.k). grecHish bluc stripes. 



This adult livery is not 

 fully developed till about the end of the third year, and is gradually 

 acquired. Younger birds, before they have begun to show an admixture 

 of white feathers, are sooty brown spotted with white above, and 

 mottled white and brownish grey below. At an early period the 

 nestlings, which are at first blind and naked, develop a thick coat 

 of snow-white woolly down, when they look for all the world like 

 the " fluffy " birds made as toys for children. 



The range of the gannet appears to be restricted to the two sides 

 of the North Atlantic, and its breeding-places, which are very local, 

 include the Magdalenes and other rocky islets in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence ; Iceland ; the western Faroes ; Borrera, close to St. Kilda, 

 in the Outer Hebrides ; Sulasgeir, or North Burra, on the north-west 

 side of the Shetlands ; Suleskerry Stack, off Stromness, in Orkney ; 



