346 THE GANNET 



With regard to the period at which the Gannet begins 

 laying, I was told when at the Bass that occasionally a few 

 eggs were to be seen at the end of March, but ordinarily 

 they are deposited in April. At St. Kilda they are not 

 obtainable in any numbers before the first or second week in 

 May.* On August 29th and 30th, 1906, there were still a 

 few eggs on the Bass Rock, very dirty, and probably only 

 rotten ones ; there did not seem to be any nestlings 

 younger than about twelve or fourteen days. Whether in- 

 cubation usually commences immediately after laying, or 

 whether there is an interval of days, or even weeks, I do 

 not know. 



With regard to the number of eggs which a Gannet can 

 lay, if pressed, Mr. J. Laidlaw's experience at the Bass 

 Rock has been, that if the first egg be taken, a second will 

 be laid, and if that be removed, possibly a third. To this 

 the Rev. H. N. Bonar, who resides in that neighbourhood, 

 assents, and so does Martin,t — and more recently the 

 Rev. N. Mackenzie, { — but a member of the Berwickshire 

 Naturahsts' Club has alleged, with some confidence, that 



* " St. Kilda and its Birds," by J. Wiglesworth, p. 49. 



■j- Martin's words are : " Every fowl lays an egg three different times 

 (except the Oair-iowl and Fulmar, whicli lay but once)." (" Voyage to 

 St. Kilda," p. (U). 



% "Annals Scot. Nat. Hist.," 190."), p. 144. 



