AILSA CRAIG 



91 



the map as Eagle's Nest to the south fog-horn, the blasts 

 from which they do not mind. Indeed, there were Gannets 

 everywhere,* and Mr. Thomson subsequently considered it 

 to have been the best hatch for many years. Although 

 Gannets' nests had not been altogether unfamiUar objects 



MAIN CRAIGS, AILSA. 



either to me or my brother-in-law, one reason of our visit 

 was, of course, to see them again, but though in plenty, they 



* Mr. Kirk says he has generally found second year Gannets in the 

 jjiebald plumage in groups apart from the adults, as if not breeding; the 

 percentage of these second year birds did not seem to us quite so high 

 as at the Bass, being about one in forty, and we did not notice any 

 separation, such as Mr. Kirk alludes to. Mr. Bentley Beetham has also 

 many times seen groups of immature Gannets resting on the top of th^ 

 cliffs apart. 



