CHAPTER XX. 



PLUMAGE. 



The Gannets' Plumage — Description of the Nestling— Of the 

 Young— Of Intermediate Stages— The Plumage of an Adult — 

 Period of Moult — Pterylosis — Weight of a Gannet 



Description of the Nestling. — A young Gannet, when just 

 liberated from its egg, is described by Mr. J. C. Walker 

 — who successfully acted the part of accoucheur, setting 

 some of them free from their egg-shells rather before their 

 time apparently — as being quite black, with a sprinkling 

 of powder-like down about it, with a big head, a fat 

 body and tiny webbed feet, perfectly bald, about four 

 inches long, and very lively.* 



The mouth, I may add, on the authority of Mr. O. G. 

 Pike, is already of no inconsiderable dimensions, and of a 

 dark bluish-grey colour. In twenty-four hours more 

 down begins to be visible, but it is a fortnight before the 

 little creature is clothed with it. Mr. W. P. Pycraft is of 

 opinion that the Gannet has two generations of nestling- 

 down, though whether this is made up of pre-pennse only, 

 or pre-plumulse only as in the Cormorant, or of a mixture 

 of both, he is unable to say at present.-] On the seventh 



* "Zoologist," 18G8, p. 13G0. 



t W. P. P. in rut. I am largely indebted to Mr. Pycraft for help in this 

 chapter, and the next. 



