GANNET 
117. Sula bassana. 35 in. 
Primaries black; rest of plumage white; back of head 
tinged with straw color; bill and feet bluish black. 
Young grayish or brownish black, mottled above and 
streaked below. This species is the largest and most j 
northerly distributed of the gannet family. Thousands 
upon thousands of them breed upon high rocky islets 
off the British coast. The only known nesting places 
used by them in this country are Bird Rock and Bona- 
venture Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; in these j 
places they nest by thousands, their rough piles of sea- 
weed touching each other in long rows on the narrow 
ledges. 
Notes.—A harsh “ gor-r-r-rok.” (Chapman). 
Range.—North Atlantic, breeding, on the Americar 
side, only on islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Win 
ters along the whole United States coast, floating in 
large flocks out at sea, and rarely coming on land. 
67 
