208 GANNET. 



feeding, their smell is excessively rank and disagreeable. 

 Each species build their nests of sticks, sea-weed, and 

 grass, on the ledges of high and perpendicular cliffs that 

 impend the sea, and sometimes also (notwithstanding 

 their being web-footed) in trees. They lay six or seven 

 eggs. In swimming, both the Corvorant and Shag hold 

 their heads nearly erect. The former species are domesti- 

 cated by the inhabitants of some countries, and trained 

 for the purpose of catching fish for their owners. In this 

 operation they have a leather thong tied round their 

 neck, which prevents them from swallowing their prey. 

 Even in England, it appears that our monarchs formerly 

 had an officer of the household who was entitled, "Mas- 

 ter of the Corvorants." 



The Corvorant generally measures about three feet, 

 and the Shag two feet and a half, in length. The tail of 

 each species is rounded. The head of the former has a 

 short crest, and its body is entirely black. The upper 

 parts of the latter are black, and the under parts brown. 

 The tail- feathers of the Corvorant are fourteen in number, 

 and of the Shag only twelve. In each species the legs 

 are black. 



Gannet, or Solan Goose. So numerous are these 

 voracious birds on the sea-rocks of some parts of Scot- 

 land, that, we are assured, the inhabitants of the island 

 of St. Kilda have been known to take, annually, more 

 than twenty-two thousand of the young ones, besides an 

 amazing quantity of the eggs. They are birds of passage, 

 generally first appearing in the month of March, and 

 continuing until about the beginning of September. As 

 their time of breeding and departure generally accord 

 with the arrival and re-migration of the herrings, it has 

 been supposed that they attend the progress of these fish. 



