544 APPENDIX A. 



1889, p. 508), but on the east side, where it has no breeding 

 place, it has not been met with so far to the north. Throughout 

 this region it appears to be known as the " Malagash," or 

 " Malaga," a name principally used by seafaring men, but of 

 which neither Mr. W. L. Sclater nor Mr, D. A. Bannerman 

 knows the meaning. The word may be connected with the 

 Portuguese Mergulhar =to dip. 



All the known breeding places of the " Malagash " are on 

 islands, and as they are protected, the birds have probably 

 increased largely in numbers. What is possibly the largest of 

 these Gannet " Guano Preserves " exists on Bird Island, in 

 Algoa Bay, and this is also the most eastern. Here, writes 

 Mr. H. E. Harris, who \asited the island in 1900, they are so 

 numerous as to cover an acre and a half of sand, each one 

 squatting on its single egg, which it covers with its foot. The 

 excellent photograph by Mr, Harris takes in the greater part of 

 this area, and is copied by permission from " Birds of the Canary 

 Islands and South Africa " (1901). Although there must be more 

 Gannets here than at the Bass Rock, Mr. Harris remarks 

 incidentally that the spectacle is not so imposing, owing to the 

 flatness of the island. 



I have also to acknowledge a striking photograph of Bird 

 Island by Mr. R. Jackson (received through Mr. Harvie-Brown) ; 

 this was taken later than Mr. Harris's, but it shows the sand 

 equally crowded with great numbers of Gannets. I learn from 

 Mr. P. W, Pitz-Simons that the Gannets are divided into two 

 great companies. 



Some other breeding-places of 8. cajjensis on the west coast 

 are cited in the " Pauna of South Africa," namely HoUam's 

 Bird-island, Ichabo, of which an account is given by Mr. 

 W. P. Lowe ("Ibis," 1912, p. 263)— Possession Island and 

 Halifax Island off Namaqualand — and Malagash Island at the 



