362 THE GANNET 



say, it is sat upon as though it had still to be incubated, 

 except at feeding time. Until it is time to quit the ledges, 

 its growth continues to be very slow. The nutriment 

 supplied to the nestling at this early stage is in a soft — 

 almost a liquid — state, which the old Gannet hardly has 

 need to throw up, as it is secreted but a few inches down 

 the gullet, where the nestling readily reaches it.* In 1904, 

 towards the end of July, I had an opportunity of seeing 

 what this half -digested fish-pulp was like, for an old Gannet, 

 which I picked up under the walls of Tantallon Castle, 

 which some thoughtless person had shot, had its gullet 

 stuffed with it.f 



As I have never had a chance of watching the feeding 

 of a nestling Gannet in a wild state, I will quote what 

 Mr. Booth has to say about the young one which he bred 



* This was well known to Martin, see " Voyage to St. Kilda," p. 50. 



f It is well known that many birds besides the Gannet prepare food 

 for their young by a process of partially digesting it themselves, as well as 

 by the addition, as is supposed, of some hidden nutritive substance which 

 is secreted in their alimentary system. The nestling Pelican (P. onocro- 

 talus) receives nutriment in this way (Van Bemmelen, in " Zool. Garten," 

 1872, p. 2()4). So do P. crispus (R. B. Lodge, "Zoologist," 1906, 

 p. 367), Phalacrocorax carbo (" P.Z.S.," 1882, p. 458), P. graculus ("Bird 

 Watching," 1901, p. 178), and Sula cijanops (" The Condor," 1904, p. 89), 

 and probably the other Boobies. There are several species of land birds 

 to which the practice is common, in a less degree than those here 

 mentioned. In Pigeons the regurgitated food is supplied to the young 

 in a milkv secretion. 



