646 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Macgillivray observed the Gannet fishing like a Gull, by hovering above 

 the shoal of fish and picking them from the water. The notes of the 

 Gannet are very harsh and discordant ; they are generally uttered at 

 the breeding-place when the birds are disturbed, and resemble the syllables 

 carra, oft repeated and modified in difl'erent ways. 



The Gannet breeds in large colonies, and is apparently very fastidious 

 in its choice of a haunt, a steep ocean-rock being generally selected for 

 the purpose. In some places the colonies are enormously large. The first 

 eggs are laid early in May, the nests being built about a week before. 

 One of the most interesting breeding-places of the Gannet is the far-famed 

 Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth. Nest-building begins about the end of 

 April, but many birds delay operations until the middle of May. Every 

 available ledge is occupied by a nest, in fact the rock overflows with them, 

 and on the top a number of nests are placed for which there is literally no 

 room on the ledges of the cliff's. The nests are generally slight, often 

 trodden out of all shape, and smell most offensively, owing to the number 

 of half-digested fish lying about them which have been cast up by the old 

 Gannets when disturbed from their eggs. They are made of seaweed 

 picked up from the waves below, bunches of turf pulled up from the 

 summit of the cliffs, and a few straws. They are very shallow ; and as the 

 materials with which they are composed wear away, the old birds are con- 

 stantly adding to them. Sometimes a bird will steal from its neighbour's 

 nest j then a contest takes place, and perhaps the two birds will roll over 

 the top of the cliff' and flutter downwards, until they get fairly on the 

 wing. The sitting Gannets take but little notice of an intruder, gene- 

 rally remaining on their eggs until pushed off", when they often cast up a 

 half-digested fish and flutter into the air. Some are very reluctant to 

 leave their eggs, and with bill wide open endeavour to frighten the 

 intruder away. The scene is a most imposing one. Thousands of Gannets 

 are sailing to and fro before the mighty cliff's, every part of the rocks that 

 can support a nest is crowded with birds ; birds are constantly coming to 

 and leaving the cliffs ; the harsh notes of remonstrating and quarrelling 

 Gannets sound in all directions j whilst numbers are to be seen sitting 

 quietly on the greensward on the top of the rocks, or fast asleep with 

 their bills and heads almost hidden amongst their dorsal plumage. No bird 

 is more graceful in the air than the Gannet ; it often seems to float with- 

 out perceptible exertion, and hovers with wings apparently at rest. When 

 flying, the head is held in a straight line with the tail, and the legs are 

 stretched out under the tail. When alighting on the cliff's, the Gannet 

 comes down in a fluttering, heavy, and clumsy manner, often failing to get 

 a foothold, and falling back into space when the attempt has to be rencAved. 

 The Gannet only lays a single egg ; but if that be removed it will lay 

 again. 



