180 BRITISH | SEA BEDS: 
The effect is most startling as the big birds dash 
out of the gloomy sea caves one after the other. 
The only note I have heard this species utter has 
been a low croak. 
GANNET. 
This remarkable bird differs in many important 
respects from all other pelagic species inhabiting the 
temperate portions of the northern hemisphere. 
Outside the limits of the British Islands its only 
other breeding places in Europe are on Iceland and 
the Farées. The Gannet or Solan Goose, the Szda 
dassana of Brisson and modern naturalists, is one of 
the most pelagic of birds. Except during the ~ 
breeding season it is rarely seen near land, the 
thousands of birds that congregate in a few chosen 
spots round the British coasts dispersing themselves 
far out to sea as soon as the duties of the year are 
over. Like the Albatross, the Gannet may almost 
be said to live in the air. Its powers of flight are 
simply magnificent. Occasionally a few odd birds 
may be observed here and there fishing in the bays, 
during autumn and winter; but the person who 
would study its habits and movements thoroughly 
must visit one of its breeding places. There are 
many colonies of Gannets round the British coasts, 
one of the most accessible, and perhaps the most 
famous, being on the Bass Rock, in the Firth of 
Forth. There are small ones on Lundy Island and 
Grassholm; large ones on Suleskerry, Sulisker, 
St. Kilda, Ailsa Craig, and Little Skellig. The 
