338 THE GANNET 



are as good as sea-weed, and make useful nesting material,* 

 of which the Gannets are not slow to take advantage. At 

 the Bass it is not unusual to see straw in some of the 

 nestsf — on one occasion the Rev. H. N. Bonar counted 

 a dozen straw bottle-covers in as many nests — and there 

 the Gannets are very partial to coarse grass, but I have 

 never heard that they go to the mainland for it. On 

 the contrary, the grass is torn by large beak-fulls off the 

 Bass itself, and near to the great rock's summit may be 

 seen many deep holes, which are by no means all the work 

 of rabbits.! In Martin's day the poor islanders of St. 

 Kilda complained of the Gannets on Borrera taking too 

 much of the valuable pasture intended for their small stock 

 of mountain sheep (" Voyage to St. Kilda," p. 42), and John 

 Macgillivra}", who was there in 1839, found the grass nearly 

 destroyed by them. Gannets' nests have ever been regarded 

 as substantial edifices, — although only intended to receive 

 one egg, — in truth, their size attracted attention centuries 

 ago, when in a fissure, or leaning against the rock ; 

 Mr. J. M. Campbell has obliged me with a photograph 

 of one five feet in height, but they are not all equally 



* See p. 92. 



t See p. 241, 



J Martin remarks that Gannets generally choose a windy day for 

 plucking the grass, probably that is merely because it is unsuitable 

 weather for fishing. 



