22 THE GANNET 



" Over the rolling waves, 

 over the Ganet-bath 

 [0):e]i ;^anote]" ba;SJ, 

 over the water- throng, 

 the abode of the whale." 



The above is the Rev. J. Ingram's translation. In this 

 case the events celebrated by the poet took place as late as 

 A.D. 975, but Mr. Ingram finds it difficult to say when this 

 portion of the Chronicle was penned, but probably in the 

 twelfth or thirteenth century. A fourth mention occurs in 

 a Runic poem — "A ship [literally oak] often saileth over 

 the Gannet's bath" (" Archgeologia," xxviii., p. 344; 

 " Bosworth and Toller's A.-S. Dictionary," 1882, p. 361). 

 I learn from Professor Skeat that there is yet a fifth mention of 

 the Gannet in the A.-S. metrical psalms ; psalm 104, verse 35 ; 

 where the nom. pi. ganetas occurs. These very early Saxon 

 mentions of the Gannet, though they tell us nothing about 

 it but its name, are yet very interesting as showing how 

 common and well-known the bird must have been a 

 thousand years ago. 



Origin of Gannet. — " Gannet " is a name which, as has 

 been shown, is of the highest antiquity. Referring to 

 Professor Skeat's " Etymological Dictionary," 1901, as 

 Professor Newton has done in his " Dictionary,"* and 



* " Dictit)nary of Birds," p. 300. 



