v/ HISTORICAL PREFACE 



The contribution which is now offered to zoological know- 

 ledge is neither a large nor an important one ; moreover it 

 is only about a single species — albeit a most remarkable 

 bird — the Gannet, or Solan Goose {Siila hassana (Linn.)). 

 It does not even pretend to be the final word about 

 that species, concerning which there is more to be 

 learned >vithout doubt than we have discovered at 

 present. The Gannet is a bird for which I have had 

 a partiality ever since I was a boy, or rather since 

 my first visit to Ailsa Craig — which was with a friend 

 no longer hving, forty -six years ago — and that to the famous 

 Bass Rock, which was in 1876. Needless to say, I am far 

 from behe\nng myself to be the only person who has 

 experienced this feeling, for so notable a bird cannot 

 fail to have impressed many other ornithologists who have 

 watched its stately flight. My interest in it which, as I 

 said, began early was greatly augmented by reading two 

 historical essays — one of them by Professor Fleming, 

 referred to on p. 169 of the present work, and one by 

 Professor Cunningham (" Ibis," 1866, p. 1), both of which 

 are of great merit. 



But apparently neither of these writers was aware of 

 the admirable story of the Bass Gannets, told in " Historia 

 Majoris Britannise " (1521) by one who was born near the 

 Bass and whose narrative is quoted in full on pp. 173-6. 



