484 THE GANNET 



moult which is normal, the two middle rectrices, which 

 are the longest of the twelve, being the final ones to 

 go. As to the period occupied in assuming the adult 

 plumage, some very different opinions have been expressed. 

 Macgillivray thought it was complete in about two years, 

 Faber and Ogilvie-Grant give it three, Selby and Olafsen 

 four. Booth (a good judge) four and a half, Seebohm 

 five, and Howard Saunders six.* My observations, 

 which I own have been somewhat limited, lead me to 

 think it is usually completed in two years and a half, but 

 that some individuals take three years, f 



Plumage of the Adult. % — White as snow, save for its 

 ten black pinions in either wing, a Gannet in the purity 

 of its full plumage claims our admiration as few other birds 

 can do ; nor is it diminished on observing the delicate 

 straw-colour which tints its head. The body of a Gannet 



* Yarrell, " British Birds," IV., p. 160. 



t A Cormorant in Mr. J. L. Bonhote's aviaries did not attain its full 

 plumage until the fifth year (" The Field," Nov. 27th, 1909). 



% There are various plates of the Gannet in published works, and a few 

 commendable illustrations of its changes of plumage, and especially must 

 honourable mention be made of the six large plates by Mr. E. Neale in 

 Booth's " Rough Notes on Birds " (Vol. III.). 



§ Yellow in animals is a very evanescent colour, which is perhaps why 

 this tint varies so much in individual Gannets ; but it is always more 

 intense in spring and summer, and is sometimes almost absent in 

 winter. Sinailarly in the Spoonbill and Great Bustard the buff patches 

 are seasonal. 



