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 

 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 

 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 American 

 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. 



