98 THE GANNET 



quite close overhead, but let there come a breath of wind, 

 or a turning on the cliff, and instantly the feet drop into 

 view, and their value for steerage, in conjunction with the 

 rudder-like tail, becomes apparent. 



Carrying seaweed about is a favourite occupation, and 

 although some may be taking it to their nests, others are 

 flying about in an aimless way with the polished fronds of 

 the common " Tangle " * dangling from their beaks. I am 

 assured that they continually patch up their nests, and even 

 go on adding seaweed to them down to the time when the 

 young are ready to leave ; but that they make a circle of the 

 seaweed and lay the egg on the bare rock in the middle, 

 as some have thought, is not borne out by observation, 

 nor can I for a moment credit the idea that the Gannet's 

 white secretions assist in binding the seaweed to the rock. 

 The celebrated Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation 

 of the blood, entertained a similar idea about the 

 egg, which he had been told was bedewed, when laid, 

 with a thick and viscid moisture, which set speedily, and 

 thus the egg became soldered as it were, or agglutinated 

 to the subjacent rock. That some of the nests are two 

 or three years old is likely enough, but in that case they 



* Laminaria digitata and Fiicus vesiculosus. The late Professor J. H. 

 Balfour identified 23 sjjecies of seaweed on Ailsa Craig (" Phytologist," 

 1845). 



