354 



THE GANNET 



be much in the coincidence. One would think that much 

 warmth could hardly be afforded to the egg by the application 

 of two large webbed feet, in which there could be no 

 heat-generating arteries, but they may be of assistance in 

 retaining an even temperature, which is all-important.* 



* I have searched, but quite in vain, for signs of a hatching-spot in 

 five or six dead Gannets, and in as many Uve ones, and to make quite sure 

 that there really was none, Mr. Thomson, of Ailsa Craig, caught by means 

 of a snare and a bamboo fishing-rod, and carefully examined, twelve 

 more, which he afterwards released. The fact is not new, for its absence 

 was long ago pointed out by the acciu-ate Faber. (See " Prod, der Is- 

 anischen Ornithologie," 1822, and " Ueber das Leben der hochnordischon 



BREAST OF A GUILLEMOT. 



Vogel," 1826.) To see how large the hatching-spot is in some sea-birds 

 it is only necessary to examine the breast of a Common Guillemot {Uria 

 troile). It may not be amiss to give an illustration of one, with the feathers 

 pushed back on the lower breast, from a photograph by Mr. A. Fieldsend : 

 whether the bird pecks off the feathers itself, or whether they, and also the 

 down, drop off, is hard to say. In another Guillemot, which was incubating 

 when examined, the hatching-spot was about the same size. 



