AILSA CRAIG 95 



with a nearly bald head. When hatched they are nearly 

 black, and practically naked, resembling, as has been 

 aptly said, a toad more than a bird. Doubtless there were 

 a few more young ones further down the precipice, 

 had I had the pluck to descend, for Mr. T. C. Walker, 

 who visited the same cliffs on the 20th of June, 1866, 

 found several hatched. After describing the Rock, and 

 the features which most struck him, he says : "In a 

 few nests further down I observe several newly- 

 hatched Gannets, totally black, with a downy powder 

 like the germs of feathers. In several eggs the young are 

 squeaking through the holes .... I break the shell 

 and liberate several astonished youngsters, much to the 

 discomfiture of the old birds, who hover round, cackling 

 most ferociously. The young, when just hatched, have a 

 curious look, little black imps with a big head, fat body, 

 and tiny* webbed feet sprawling about the nest. They are 

 perfectly bald, about four inches long, and very lively."! 

 Very slow is the growth of the young, but their down soon 

 comes. For a time the old bird keeps them warm with 

 her body, but when the nestlings get too big for that, she 

 places herself beside them, as shown in Mr. Kirk's 

 photograph. At the Bass I have seen old Gannets sitting 



* At seven days Mr. Ivii-k finds the web measvu'es 1 J x 1{- inch, 

 t " Zoologist," 1868, p. 1366. 



