84 THE GANNET 



nests were not all swept into the sea, but the seaweed of 

 which they are built is not without adhesive properties. 

 Here birds of such conservative habits as Gannets must 

 have nested from time immemorial, and although at one 

 period, owing to persecution, their numbers diminished, 

 they gradually recovered after the passing of The Sea Birds 

 Act in 1869, which protected Gannets everywhere except at 

 St. Kilda. In those days the late Mr. Robert Gray, then of 

 Glasgow, was one who befriended these Gannets with 

 his pen in the " Times." Now they are still increasing 

 and have no need of a champion. This, at any rate, 

 is the opinion of Mr. W. Girvan, who has long been 

 tenant* or tacksman of the Craig under the Marquis of Ailsa, 

 and no one is better qualified to offer an opinion. Certainly 

 their breeding ground now covers fully three-quarters of a mile 

 of cliff, but there is still plenty available for further spreading. 

 No Gannets nest on the grass slopes, of which the upper 

 portion of the Craig is composed, nor have they ever done so 

 as far as Mr. Alexander Thomson, the principal keeper of 

 the lighthouse, is aware. This is rather remarkable, because 

 we know that the grass slopes of the Bass Rock used to be 

 largely occupied ; but here also the presence of visitors may 

 have driven them away. 



* Two brothers, William and Andrew Girvan, are, Mr. Harvie-Brown 

 informs me, jointly tenants of the Craig. 



