644 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Iceland, and a large one ou the Faroes, besides the scattered colonies on 

 the British Islands already mentioned. In winter it is distributed along 

 the entire coast of Western Europe, occasionally entering the Baltic and the 

 Mediterranean, and straying as far south as the Canary Islands. On the 

 American coast it wanders in winter as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. 

 The Gannct has several allies, but from all of them it may readily be dis- 

 tinguished by having the cheeks and the sides of the chin and throat 

 feathered instead of being denuded, of plumage. 



The Gannct is a bird of remarkably powerful flight, and, like the Alba- 

 tross and the Frigate-bird, lives almost exclusively in the air. It soars for 

 a great height, or wheels round and round, sometimes with no perceptible 

 movement of its ample wings. Although it frequently alights on the 

 water it does not generally remain long, unless when gorged Avith food or 

 to sleep. It appears to avoid flying over land, and prefers to follow a 

 winding coast rather than to take a short cut by passing over a headland. 

 Saxby, however, states that he has seen this bird sailing about inland, 

 probably attracted by the flocks of Herring-Gulls feeding in the meadows 

 below. On the land its movements are awkward. Gannets repeatedly fly 

 for immense distances to feed, a hundred or even two hundred miles in a 

 day being often traversed. Where the shoals of fish are sporting near the 

 surface of the sea the Gannets abound. Few sights are prettier than a 

 flock of these birds engaged in searching for food. High up in the air 

 they may be seen soaring in graceful flight, first one and then another 

 dropping with a loud splash into the sea, as if hurled downwards with 

 great force, disappearing for a few moments, and then rising to the surface. 

 They may be continually seen falling from the air like large white stones, 

 or rising from the waves to join the soaring flock above. The Gannct does 

 not dive, in the strict sense of the word, unless in its frantic efl^orts to 

 escape when wounded in the wing. Sometimes it plunges into the sea 

 from only a moderate elevation, but very often from a height of a hundred 

 yards or more. Gray states that the Gannct generally feeds in water 

 where the bottom is sandy ; but this is by no means always the case. It 

 may be seen fishing in all parts of the sea, often in very deep water, 

 its movements apparently being regulated only by the presence of the 

 shoal near the surface. The fish are often followed for great distances, even 

 when the birds are engaged at their breeding-places. Each morning the 

 Gannets come to that part of the sea where the fish are plentiful and^ 

 after satisfying themselves, return to the distant breeding-place. 



The food of the Gannct appears to be exclusively composed of fish, 

 which it almost invariably catches by plunging from the air into the sea. 

 In the British seas it catches enormous numbers of herring and whiting ; 

 it also eats mackerel, haddocks, pilchards, sprats, anchovies, and some 

 other fish. The Gannct is a very greedy bird. Like the Cormorant it appears 



