GANNET. 161 



wing-primaries, which are black; the legs and toes in front 

 green, the other portions and the connecting membranes 

 almost black. The whole length of the bird is about thirty- 

 four inches ; from the wrist to the end of the first quill- 

 feather, nineteen inches. 



From the account given to Mr. Selby by a resident at 

 the Bass, it would appear that the Gannet is a very long- 

 lived bird, as certain individuals had been recognized, from 

 particular and well-known marks, as invariably returning to 

 the same spot to breed for upwards of forty years. 



In Mr. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe,' vol. vi. p. 187, two 

 woodcuts are given of the breastbone of the Gannet, with 

 remarks by the late Mr. John Flower, who points out that 

 the coracoids are articulated in a direction nearly parallel 

 with the axis of the sternum, and not, as in most birds, at 

 nearly right angles to it. This arrangement differs widely 

 from that in the Cormorant, and appears to be the best 

 suited for offering the minimum of opposition in the bird's 

 diving progress. Another remarkable feature, which has 

 been noticed by Montagu, Sir Kichard Owen, Macgillivray, 

 and Prof. Newton, is the system of subcutaneous air-cells 

 which pervade almost the whole surface of the body, and 

 are capable of voluntary inflation or exhaustion. 



A White Pelican, Pelecanus onoerotalus, is mentioned by 

 Sir Thomas Browne, and afterwards by Montagu, as having 

 been shot in Horsey Fen, Norfolk, in May, 1663, but it 

 was supposed to be one of the king's birds which had flown 

 away from St. James'. Mr. Cecil Smith informs the Editor 

 that early in April, 1883, he examined one which had been 

 shot on Exmoor, and subsequently proved to have escaped 

 from a travelling menagerie. There is no evidence to show 

 that examples of either of the two kinds of Pelican which 

 have their nearest haunts in south-eastern Europe have ever 

 wandered to these islands ; but in pre-historic times a species 

 did inhabit our fens, and its bones have been exhumed in 

 Norfolk. 



VOL. IV. Y 



