GANNET 301 
Further to the northward its settlements are Myggenss, the most 
westerly of the Feeroes, and various small islands off the coast of 
Iceland, of which the Vestmannaeyjar, the Reykjanes Fuglaskér, 
and Grimsey are the chief. On the western side of the Atlantic it 
appears to have now but three stations, and on them the population is 
so reduced in numbers that there is every chance of the species ceasing 
to exist in those parts unless proper steps are taken to protect it. 
In old times the birds existed in extraordinary numbers, and even 
in 1860 the late Dr. Bryant reckoned the population of Gannets on 
the Great Bird Rock at 50,000 pairs. In 1887 not more than 
10,000 birds were said to be there, and the numbers, according to 
Mr. Lucas (Auk, 1888, pp. 129-135), are yearly decreasing both there 
and on Bonaventure Island, the only other considerable settlement, 
owing to the brutality of the fishermen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
There seems to be no recent account of the settlement in the Bay 
of Fundy. On all these places the bird arrives about the end of 
March or in April, and departs in autumn when its young are ready 
to fly ; but even during the breeding-season many of the adults may 
be seen on their fishing excursions at a vast distance from their 
home, while at other times of the year their range is greater still, 
for they not only frequent the North Sea and the English Channel, 
but stray to the Baltic, and, in winter, extend their flight. to 
Madeira, while the members of the species of American birth 
traverse the ocean from the shores of Greenland to the Gulf of 
Mexico. 
Apparently as bulky as a Goose, and with longer wings and 
tail, the Gannet weighs considerably less. The plumage of the 
adult is white, tinged on the head and neck with buff, while the 
outer edge and principal quills of the wing are black, and some 
bare spaces round the eyes and on the throat reveal a dark blue 
skin. The first plumage of the young is of a deep brown above, 
but paler beneath, and each feather is tipped with a triangular 
white spot. The nest is a shallow depression, either on the ground 
itself or on a pile of turf, grass, and seaweed—which last is often 
conveyed from a great distance. The single egg it contains has a 
white shell of the same chalky character as a CORMORANT’S. The 
young are hatched blind and naked, but the slate-coloured skin with 
which their body is covered is soon covered with white down, 
replaced in due time by true feathers of the dark colour already 
mentioned. The mature plumage is believed not to be attained for 
some three years. ‘Towards the end of summer the majority of 
Gannets, both old and young, leave the neighbourhood of their 
breeding-place, and, betaking themselves to the open sea, follow the 
shoals of herrings and other fishes (the presence of which they are 
attracted attention. Its discovery was made only a short time before by Mr. J. 
T, Neale (ef. T. H. Thomas, 7’rans. Cardiff Nat. Soc. xxii. part 2). 
