460 THE GANNET 



combination of flavour was their recommendation in 

 Scotland, and they found favour on the tables of the 

 wealthy as a "whet" before meals. 



The first writer to name a price for young Bass Gannets is 

 Blaeu (quoting Robert Gordon), in 1654 : who says : " Those 

 of Edinburgh pay 25s. for one Goose ; " but the Scotch shilling 

 was only equal to about a penny, so that they were really 

 2s. Id. apiece.* In 1661 John Ray tells us that they fetched 

 Is. 8d. plucked, which he thought was a very dear price 

 for them.f In 1674-8 the Lauderdale accounts give seven- 

 teen pence as the price of one Gannet. In 1710 Sir 

 Robert Sibbald puts it at twenty-four pence, which is the 

 top figure. After that the price kept for some time at 

 twenty pence, which is the sum named by Dalrymple's 

 factor in 1764-7 ; by the author of " The British Zoology " 

 in 1769 ; and by Selby in 1825. In 1848 it was Is. at Canty 

 Bay, accordmg to Wolley.J In 184J) it had dropped to 9d. 

 (Prof. Fleming), which was still the charge on the spot in 

 1860 (Harvie -Brown). But at length Scottish taste changed, 

 young Gannets were voted rank and fishy, the demand for 

 them began to fall off, their grease and feathers also were 

 in less request, and with a decline in their value the rent of 

 the Bass Rock naturally declined also ; so that in 1820 



* Page 218. f Page 206. 



J " Ootheca Wolleyana," II., p. 453. 



