CAN NET 30 X 



Further to the northward its settlements are Myggenses, the most 

 westerly of the Faeroes, and various small islands off the coast of 

 Iceland, of which the Vestmannaeyjar, the Eeykjanes Fuglasker, 

 and Grimsey are the chief. On the western side of the Atlantic it 

 appears to have now but three stations, and on them the population is 

 so reduced in numbers that there is every chance of the species ceasing 

 to exist in those parts unless proper steps are taken to protect it. 

 In old times the birds existed in extraordinary numbers, and even 

 in 1860 the late Dr. Bryant reckoned the population of Gannets on 

 the Great Bird Rock at 50,000 ])a%rs. In 1887 not more than 

 10,000 lirds, were said to be there, and the numbers, according to 

 Mr. Lucas {Auk, 1888, pp. 129-135), are yearly decreasing both there 

 and on Bonaventure Island, the only other considerable settlement, 

 owing to the brutality of the fishermen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 There seems to be no recent account of the settlement in the Bay 

 of Fundy. On all these places the bird arrives about the end of 

 March or in April, and depai"ts in autumn when its young are ready 

 to fly ; but even during the breeding-season many of the adults may 

 be seen on their fishing excursions at a vast distance from their 

 home, while at other times of the year their range is greater still, 

 for they not only frequent the North Sea and the English Channel, 

 but stray to the Baltic, and, in winter, extend their flight to 

 Madeira, while the members of the species of American birth 

 traverse the ocean from the shores of Greenland to the Gvilf of 

 Mexico. 



Apparently as bulky as a Goose, and with longer wings and 

 tail, the Gannet weighs considerably less. The plumage of the 

 adult is white, tinged on the head and neck with buff, while the 

 outer edge and principal quills of the wing are black, and some 

 bare spaces round the eyes and on the throat reveal a dark blue 

 skin. The first plumage of the young is of a deep brown above, 

 but paler beneath, and each feather is tipped with a triangular 

 white spot. The nest is a shallow depression, either on the ground 

 itself or on a pile of turf, grass, and seaweed — which last is often 

 conveyed from a great distance. The single egg it contains has a. 

 white shell of the same chalky character as a Cormorant's. The 

 young are hatched blind and naked, but the slate-coloured skin with 

 which their body is covered is soon covered with white down, 

 replaced in due time by true feathers of the dark colour already 

 mentioned. The mature plumage is Relieved not to be attained for 

 some three years. Towards the end of summer the majority of 

 Gannets, both old and young, leave the neighbourhood of their 

 breeding-place, and, betaking themselves to the open sea, follow the 

 shoals of herrings and other fishes (the presence of which they are- 

 attracted attention. Its discovery was made only a short time before by Ivlr. J„. 

 J. Neale (</. T. H. Thomas, Trans. Cardiff Nat. Soc. xxii. part 2). 



