IV PHALACROCORACIDAE 7% 
grey head, neck, and under surface in the latter. It apparently 
requires six years to attain the full adult plumage. 
Gannets are oceanic birds, only frequenting the land in stormy 
weather; they traverse very great distances, and the northern 
species move southward in winter. The flight is easy and powerful, 
with alternate flapping and sailing motion, the head being carried 
ina line with the body and the feet drawn up. The food con- 
sists of surface-swimming fish, squids, and the like, while the 
young obtain their nutriment by thrusting their bills into those of 
the parents, though it is disgorged for them when newly hatched. 
The prey is chiefly captured by diving, the plunge being made 
with great velocity from a considerable height and the body 
being submerged for several seconds; on coming to the surface 
the bird generally remains quiescent for a short period before 
again taking to the air, but occasionally swims for a longer period. 
When diving the wings are kept open until the last moment, and 
are then quickly closed. Gannets find the same difficulty in 
rising from a level spot as do Tropic-birds, and are less prone to 
perch than many other sea-birds. The note is a hoarse reiterated 
sound or, less commonly, a plaintive cry, much noise being often 
made by the large colonies when breeding. The nest is a mass 
_of sea-weed and grass, placed on a ledge of some high cliff, on 
the top of a stack, or even on a low tree; while the eggs—never 
more than two in number—are occasionally deposited on the 
bare sandy beach, and are greenish-blue, thickly coated with a 
white chalky substance, which soon becomes soiled. Incubation 
lasts about six weeks. The adults, especially in the case of the 
Boobies, are often absurdly fearless on land, while the female, when 
on the nest, grunts at an intruder, and pecks or bites sharply. They 
are frequently caught on shipboard by fixing bits of fish on floating 
pieces of wood, in which the beak is transfixed by the violence of 
the plunge; they do not, however, afford palatable food, though in 
Scotland the Solan Goose is half-roasted and so preserved for eating. 
Fam. III. Phalacrocoracidae—The genus Phalacrocoraz in- 
eludes the Cormorants and Shags, birds of similar coloration, which 
differ chietly in the brilliancy of their metallic hues and the pro- 
portion of white to black or brown in the plumage, the follow- 
ing examples giving a fair idea of the whole. PP. carbo, the 
Common Cormorant, with fourteen rectrices, has the head and 
neck glossy blue-black, interspersed with white hair-like feathers, 
