HABITS OF THE GANNET 383 



In summer-time Gannets which are not engaged in incubating 

 sleep soundly by night on the ledges, but whether they ever 

 sleep on their nests — as Albatrosses, for example, are known 

 to do — is uncertain, but quite probable. They have an 

 uncommonly snug way of tucking their heads into the feathers 

 of the back (as seen in the photograph*), which seem to part 

 in a natural division on purpose. Judging from the Gannets 

 I have had in confinement, I should say that their hour for 

 slumber was about half-past eight in the evening in summer, 

 and seven o'clock in the winter. They evidently are not 

 such early risers as the Guillemots and Kitti wakes. " Before 

 day-break," says Mr. Booth, " I have on two or three 

 occasions climbed to the summit of the Bass, and looked 

 down on the silent multitudes collected on the ledges, 

 while the first rays of the rising sun Ht up the scene. In 

 almost every instance the male and female were sitting 

 side by side on the nest, the young, if small, being 

 hidden from view, and those of larger size in most ■ 

 instances snugly nestled between the parents. As the 

 daylight increases, first one and then another stretch 

 out their necks, and uttering a low note, rise up and flap 

 their wings. "f 



* By Miss M. E. Gurney, from an unpinioned bird on a pond in 

 Norfolk. 



f "Rough Notes." 



