74 THE GANNET 



told me he had seen young ones hanging up with bacon in 

 Kerry cabins. 



In the table to be given I think I shall be justified in 

 ranking the Skellig Gannets at 16,000, and the present 

 strength of the Bull at 500 ; indeed, as regards the former, I 

 might probably go rather higher with safety, but throughout 

 this book I shall endeavour not to err as some former 

 writers have done on the side of exaggeration, the other 

 way being the less evil of the two. 



There is some reason for believing that Gannets formerly 

 bred on " The Stags " of Broadhaven, Co. Mayo (Thompson, 

 " Birds of Ireland," III., p23. 264, 451), but the supposition 

 receives little credit from Messrs. Warren and Barrington 

 (c/. "Zoologist," 1884, pp. 474, 479), nor does it get any 

 confirmation from Mr. Ussher's enquiries (Ussher's " Birds 

 of Ireland," p. 157). Yet it may be to these Stags that 

 Smith in his " State of Kerry " (1756) refers when he says : 

 " I have been informed that there is another rock on the 

 north coast of Ireland where they [Gannets] alight and 

 breed." If they ever did breed on the coast of Mayo, it is 

 not likely that the fact will ever be established now. 



