THE BASS ROCK 231 



only been once upon it, when there were there five old 

 Gannets which had been long dead, and a young one 

 which had flapped out of its nest, and bit vigorously when 

 I tried to catch it. 



Date of Arrival and Departure of Gannets. — The Gannets 

 come to the Bass at the end of February, some are rather 

 later, in 1908 Mr. J. M, Campbell says some, probably 

 owing to the mildness of the season, returned during the 

 second week of January, but this was exceptional ; at my 

 first visit, which was on the 7th of March, 1876, I found 

 what seemed to be the whole community already assembled. 

 At first they fly round the Rock without alighting, a circum- 

 stance which did not escape Leslie's informant " Sche flies twa 

 day es still and continuallie round . . ." While this goes on, 

 says the bishop, "Settis na man his held out of the hous " 

 {see p. 189). That is the dwellings which were inside the fort, 

 the idea being that if undisturbed more Gannets would nest 

 in accessible places, which was not a precaution to be 

 neglected. Their importance for sustaining the garrison 

 in time of war might be great.* Not only are the Gannets 

 among the first birds to come, but they are also quite the 

 last to leave : long after the Puffins and Guillemots and 



* An importance alluded to in a letter from Sir John Dalrymple to 

 Lord Melville, written June 23rd, 1G89, printed by Sir W. Fraser (" The 

 Melvilles," II., p. 113). 



