66 THE GANNET 



he may be merely repeating Pennant. The first we 

 learn about numbers is that in 1850 there were 

 about a thousand,* but in 1880 Mr. R. M. Barrington 

 thought there were but sixty Gannets,t a great falhng off. 

 In 1882 Sir R. P. Gallwey raises the number to three 

 hundred.! ^^ 1884 Mr. Barrington found it was still 

 increasing,^ while in 1890 Mr. W. H. Turle even thought 

 there were then several thousand pairs of Gannets.|| In 

 1896 Mr. A. D. Sapsworth, in an article from which I will 

 make a short extract, assesses the settlement at some 

 thousands.^ Ten years later, and Mr. Barrington re-visiting 

 the Skelligs, puts the Gannets at from 15,000 to 20,000,** 

 an increase, perhaps, in part due to the cessation of the 

 harvesting of the young at St. Kilda, and one which in 1908 

 I found the Portmagee fishermen all confirmed ; I was 

 glad to find they did not harbour any resentment to the 

 birds on the ground of their proving fishing rivals. 



Mr. Sapsworth writes of this Gannetry, that it " looks like 

 a huge conical beehive swarming with bees ; they arrived 

 from all directions only to depart again on another 



* Thompson, "Birds of Ireland," iii., p 264. 

 t " Zoologist," 1884, p. 477. 



+ " Fowler in Ireland," p. 261. § " Zoologist," 1884, p. 478. 



II " Ibis," 1891, p. 9. Their breeding area was, however, still confined 

 to the south side according to the lighthouse-keeper. 



f "The Field," Aiigust 22nd, 1896. **" Irish NaturaUst," 1906, p. 235. 



