THE BASS ROCK 183 



is a sea-bird, which Hves by hunting fishes, somewhat less 

 in size than the Goose given above [the Bernicle Goose] ; 

 and yet in voice and aspect it recalls the Goose in every way ; 

 it nests within the Scottish sea, upon the lofty cliflfs of the 

 Bass Isle — so called, as I opine, by an antiphrasis — and 

 nowhere else in all Britain. This bird looks to its young 

 with so much loving care that it will fight most gallantly 

 with lads that are let down in baskets by a rope to carry them 

 away, not without danger of life. Nor must we fail to 

 mention that a salve, most valuable for many a disease, 

 is made by Scots from the fat of this Goose (for it is wonder- 

 fully full of fat) which may deservedly rival the Com- 

 mogenum [ointment] vaunted much by PHny, in its virtue 

 and the number of its cures." 



Turner may have derived his knowledge about the fat of 

 the Gannet from Major, but he must have heard from some 

 independent source of the boys being let down in baskets. 

 Mr. A. H. Evans, from whose excellent modern edition (1903) 

 of his work the above translation is taken, considers that 

 every page of Turner's treatise bears witness to a personal 

 knowledge of ornithology,* but it is not likely that Turner 

 had been to the Bass. 



* " Turner on Birds," edited and translated by A. H. Evans, p. ix. By 

 an antiphrasis of tlie name Bass, Mr. Evans thinks Turner meant that it 

 was as if the derivation was from the French bas = low, in contra- 

 distinction to the lofty cliffs. 



