388 THE GANNET 



Cornwall, and in other maritime counties, realise that 

 Gannets can be of great use occasionally by indicating 

 the whereabouts of fish, so this has to be set off against 

 their demerits. One of the first to put this fact down to 

 their credit was WilHam Borlase, an observant eighteenth- 

 century writer {fl. 1695-1772), who says : " As this bird is 

 a never-failing attendant upon the pilchards, all concerned 

 in the fishery make ready their seyns, nets and boats as 

 soon as they see the Gannet, and can easily guess by its 

 flight whether the shoals of pilchards are swimming deep 

 underneath the water, or near the surface."* 



Perhaps it will not be devoid of interest to give a list 

 of the Gannet's bill of fare so far as authors record it, but 

 I have not extended it beyond European seas. Unfor- 

 tunately for them, it includes one fish, the gurnard {Trigla) 

 which they appear to be rather fond of, whose spinous, 

 dorsal-fin sometimes penetrates the walls of the throat, 

 and sticking there is not infrequently fatal to them. 

 Gannets never take flat fish.f 



Herring, Clupea harenga. 



Mackerel, Sco7nber scomber. 



Coal-fish (sethe or saithe) Gadus virens. Fide J. A. 

 Harvie-Brown and others. 



* " Journal R. Institute of Cornwall," 1864, p. 44 (Borlase's posthumous 

 notes). 



f In which respect they are luililte Cormorants, which are very partial 



to flounders, 



