DIVER TRIBE. 209 



Gannets build their nests on the highest and steepest 

 rocks they can find, near the sea, and lay in them a 

 single white egg. If this be taken away, they will lay 

 another ; and, if that be also taken, a third, but never 

 more in one season. This is a wise provision of the 

 Great Author of Nature to prevent the extinction of the 

 species by accidents, and, at the same time, to supply 

 food to the inhabitants of the places where they breed. 

 The mode in which these birds catch their scaly prey, is 

 by rising high into the air, sailing aloft over the shoals 

 of herrings, pilchards, or mackerel, and from time to 

 time closing their wings and precipitating themselves 

 down, head foremost, into the water, from whence they 

 never elevate themselves again without a fish in their 

 beak. 



The Gannet is about three feet in length; and its 

 bill, which is irregularly jagged at the edges, is six 

 inches long. The general colour of the plumage is 

 white, with a cinereous tinge. The bill and the quill- 

 feathers of the wings are black. The eyes are surrounded 

 with a naked skin, of a fine blue colour ; and, from each 

 corner of the mouth, a narrow strip of naked black 

 skin extends to the hind part of the head. In the lower 

 jaw there is a pouch, of size sufficient to contain five 

 or six herrings. The tail is wedge-shaped. The legs 

 are black, except on the front, which is of a pea-green 

 colour. 



47. DIVER TRIBE. 



There are betwixt twenty and thirty species of Divers. 

 They prey upon fish, and both swim and dive with the 

 greatest ease and dexterity. 



