MORTALITY AMONG GANNETS 429 



There are tracts in England in which in a very wet 

 season almost the entire hatch of young Partridges is 

 carried off, and wild Pheasants die in large numbers. 

 In the case of the antarctic Penguins, there is an enormous 

 mortality amongst them whilst still young, as the 

 researches of Mr. E. A. Wilson, of the ship Discovery, 

 have abundantly proved.* 



So far as we can judge, death from old age is by no means 

 the usual termination of a wild-bird's life. Reflection leads 

 us to the rather startling conclusion, that nine birds out of 

 ten meet their deaths by accidents or by starvation. 



As to what becomes of dead birds, that is a problem : those 

 which die at sea sink into the sea, but what of those which 

 die on land ? This is a mystery which has never received 

 a satisfactory solution. They vanish, and that is all that 

 can be said.f 



Mortality a7nong Oannets. — With regard to the Gannet, 

 it cannot be disputed that great numbers of young 

 ones are annually reared, and get safely to sea, yet 

 three-quarters of them must assuredly die in a few months 

 time, otherwise new colonies would be formed, or the 

 existing ones be largely augmented. In twenty years 



* Zool. "National Antarctic Expedition," 1901-4, Vol. II. : Aves, p. 10. 



f The whole subject is well treated by Mr. Dewar in " Tlie Indian 

 Field " (Dec. 22nd, 1904), in an Article entitled "How Animals Die," 



