14 
GATTNET. 
Great numbers of Gannets are taken for the sake of their 
feathers and down, which are very valuable. They are sold 
for as much as one and eightpence each. They are also eaten 
by those who can get no better food. They are tameable 
birds, and will live for many years if kept by a piece of water. 
Montagu points out a very curious peculiarity in the forma¬ 
tion of the Gannet. I give the subjoined extracts from his 
account:— 
‘In the act of respiration, there appears to be always some 
air propelled between the skin and the body of this bird, as 
a visible expansion and contraction is observed about the 
breast; and this singular conformation makes the bird so buoyant, 
that it floats high on the water, and not sunk beneath its 
surface as observed in the Cormorant and Shag. The legs 
are not placed so far behind as in such of the feathered tribe 
as, procure their subsistence by immersion: the Gannet, con¬ 
sequently, has the centre of gravity placed more forward, and, 
when standing, the body is nearly horizontal like a Goose, 
and not erect like a Cormorant. 
Having, by the dissection of a specimen of the Gannet 
for preservation, noticed the slight and partial adhesion of 
the skin to the flesh of the whole under part of the body, 
we availed ourselves of the opportunity of paying more 
attention to the structure of this bird, and by experiments 
endeavoured to discover to what extent, and upon what 
principle, the inflation of the body was performed. 
The appearance of so singular a conformation, brought to 
recollection what Buffon relates of the Pelican; who remarks, 
that from the lungs the air passes through axillary pipes, into 
a thick vesicular cellular membrane, that covers the muscles 
and envelopes the whole body. The structure, however, of 
the Gannet, although probably intended for similar purposes, 
is very different from that of the Pelican, according to the 
relation of that naturalist. 
By comparative anatomy it has been clearly demonstrated, 
that birds in general are provided with air-vessels in different 
parts of the body, and that many of their bones are not 
destitute of this contrivance, admirably fitted for increasing 
their levity, and consequent buoyancy, as well as progressive 
motion through that element in which they are intended 
principally to move; and that too, with a velocity that far 
surpasses all other parts of animated nature. Mr. John Hunter, 
(in the Transactions of the Boyal Society,) proves that the 
