XX. THE GANNET 



can hardly be said to have been done to its anatomy 

 at present. 



Again, no httle antiquarian interest attaches to the 

 Gannet, and this fact is brought vividly before the reader 

 who dwells on the story of its early history at the Bass Rock, 

 that mighty piece of Nature's handiwork. It was saleable 

 as an article of food, its grease was thought to have medical 

 properties, and was therefore valuable, and its feathers 

 could be used for making beds. It is in a great measure 

 to these combined circumstances, and especially to the 

 value attached by our forefathers to its grease, which 

 mixed Math that of Badgers and Boars {see p. 466) could 

 cure the gout, that we owe the allusions to it by so many 

 early Scottish travellers and historians, for in the fifteenth 

 century nobody thought much of a bird which had neither 

 an edible nor a medical value, unless it was of use for 

 sport. As for the Gannet, the Royal patronage of Scotland 

 was accorded to it, so highly was it appraised ; and the 

 price charged for young ones from the Bass Rock was 

 as much as two shillings a bird. All this is treated of in 

 Chapter XIX. 



The first book on birds worthy to be called an 

 ornithological work which mentions the Gannet, is Turner's 

 classic. " Marina avis est ex venatu piscium victitans," 

 he writes. In these concise terms the Northumbrian 

 author of the " Avium Praecipuarum " (1544) characterises 

 a bird which he could hardly have seen ahve, or he would 

 not have said that in voice and aspect it recalled the 

 Bernicle Goose. Next comes Q'urner's correspondent and 

 friend, the illustrious Swiss physician Conrad Gesner, lost 



