CHAPTER I. 



NAMES OF THE GANNET. 



Names which have been applied to the Gaimel — Norse 

 Names for it — Gaelic Names — Earliest known Reference to 

 this Bird — Origin of the word "Gannet" — Professor Skeat's 

 Explanation of it — Origin of " Solan " — Paucity of Information 

 before the Sixteenth Century — Representations by the Early 

 Writers not to be commended. 



Scientific Names. 



Sida hassana, Brisson. 

 Pelecanus hassanus, Linnaeus. 

 Sula alba, Meyer. 

 Dysporus hassanus, lUiger. 

 Moris hassanus. Leach. 

 Morus hassanus, Vieillot. 

 Sula americana, Bonaparte. 

 Sula lefevri, Baldamus. 



In its immature plumage the Gannet is the Pelecanus 

 maculatus of Gmelin, also the " Fou tachete " of Buffon, 

 the Spotted Booby of Latham, and the Great Booby of 

 Catesby ; and, when nearly adult, the Sula Hoieri ot 

 Clusius.* 



* Ab imo coUo ad ouropygium usque ducta per dorsum mensui'a pedem 

 Romanran longa erat : a capitis vertice ad doi-suin usque, uncias undecim. 



