370 THE GANNET 



own good, and that any more stuffing with fish will make 

 them too unwieldy to fly.* Accordingly it would seem 

 that they desist from feeding their young for the last ten 

 days before they quit the ledges. This is in accordance 

 with repeated observations made by Mr. Laidlaw, and his 

 theory is by no means without confirmation, particularly 

 in the case of the young one bred at Brighton by 

 Mr. Booth, which was never fed after it had passed 

 the age of thirteen weeks and three days. As a matter 

 of fact, it must be an exceedingly necessary precaution, 

 for if too heavy, the young Gannet, when it launches 

 itself for the first time into space, would often not 

 get clear of the rocks. When the day comes for the 

 mighty plunge to be made, spreading wide their great 

 sails of wings, the young Gannets may be seen to half fly, 

 half fall, into the abyss below. This does not take place 

 mitil the month of September has commenced, and then 

 numbers of them are to be seen quitting the safety of their 

 ledges. A singular, not to say absurd sight, it is to stand, 

 as my son and I did, on the Bass Rock and watch their 

 awkwardness and hesitation, like that of a timid human bather 

 about to take a first header into the water ! I reckoned, 

 when I was there in 1906, that between August the 29th 



* It is stated that they are sometimes qmte lean at St. Kilda, after spells 

 of rough weather. 



