564 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
so pure. A young bird of the year has the irides 
brown; the forehead, hind part of the neck, back, 
wings and tail dark brown; the chin and throat dull 
white, mixed with pale brown; the lower part of the 
neck in front darker brown, mottled with white; the 
under surface of the body dull white, mixed with a 
little brown; the sides and flanks dark brown. 
The egg is small for the size of the bird, not pear- 
shaped, as in so many of the sea-birds, but largest in 
the middle and tapering at both ends; roughish 
chalky white outside and bluish green inside. 
GANNET or SotaNn Goose, Sula alba. The noble 
old Gannet, to my mind the grandest of all our sea- 
faring birds, is in his youth an occasional visitor to 
our coast from the neighbouring breeding station at 
Lundy; but I do not know that he ever wanders up 
our side of the channel as far as Somersetshire in 
his more mature age. On the south coast of Devon 
Gannets are very common, and appear to remain 
there the greater part of the year, as I have myself 
seen them there at all times from September to May: 
they appear to be mostly old birds, but the young 
bird — the “ Black Gannet,” as it is sometimes 
ealled—is also occasionally taken there. 
I have never seen the swoop of an Eagle on its 
prey, but I cannot imagine it to be grander than, or 
so grand as, the dash of the Gannet. It is always a 
most enjoyable sight to watch a flock of Gannets 
feeding—some soaring high in the air, like Swifts, 
