356 THE GANNET 



and this may undoubtedly be accepted as very near the 

 truth.* 



Although the end of June is the Gannet's normal time 

 of hatching its eggs, most of us have seen young ones which 

 certainly had not escaped from the shell before quite the end of 

 July ; on the other hand, a few may be exceptionally early, 

 for Mr. Booth mentions a young one which had been hatched, 

 at the Bass Rock on May 10th. t On August 29th, 1906, 

 there were plenty of young Gannets about two-thirds grown 

 at the Bass Rock, which still had downy necks, as well as 

 some which were as big as their parents, besides a few which 

 could not have been more than twelve days old, and there 

 was no reason for thinking that this was not a normal 

 breeding-season. 



There is one more point deserving of mention. Mr. 

 Thomson, of Ailsa Craig, whose experience of Gannets is 

 second to none, thinks that to assist incubation these birds 

 when sitting expand their air-cells. There certainly is some 



* The incubation of the AustraUan Sula serraior is supposed to last only 

 thirty-three days {see " Birds of New Zealand," II., p. 181), while in the 

 Cormorant (Phalacrocorax) it is only twenty -eight (see "The Field," April 

 22nd, 1882). In the Pelican it is said to be about forty-nine days (" Zoo- 

 logische Garten," 1872, p. 264), which is a week longer than the Gannet. 

 No bird was known to Mr. Evans, of which the period exceeded sixty days, 

 and that only in the case of the Ostrich. 



t In 1909 Mr. J. Campbell saw a young one at the Bass on May 15th 

 and in 1910 he had seen three by the 23rd of that month. 



