294 THE GANNET. 



very sharp and strong bill. The prevalent colour of the 

 full-plumaged bird is white, the tips of its wings only 

 being black, and some black lines about the face, resem- 

 bling eyebrows or spectacles. The naked skin of the 

 face is blue, the eyes pale yellow, and the head and neck 

 buff-colour. The plumage of the young bird is very- 

 different, being blackish, spotted irregularly with small 

 white specks. The habits of the Gannet are strictly 

 marine, and it breeds, like other sea-birds, on precipitous 

 rocks, where it forms a rude nest of reeds and grass. In 

 some localities, as on the island-rock of St. Kilda, and 

 others of the Hebrides, the Gannets congregate in vast 

 numbers. Twenty-two thousand birds, besides immense 

 numbers of eggs, are annually consumed in St. Kilda 

 alone, without seriously injuring the colony. The birds 

 are still so numerous there that it is supposed they 

 destroy annually a hundred millions of herrings. Their 

 mode of fishing is quite peculiar, and singularly grace- 

 ful. Hovering to and fro, with rapid flight, over the 

 surface of the sea, when it spies a fish swimming below, 

 the Gannet suddenly rises perpendicularly over the spot, 

 and then, closing its wings, drops head foremost on its 

 prey, with more than arrowy speed, and almost unerring 

 aim. It feeds entirely on fish, and chiefly on the various 

 kinds of herrings. Beside those captured for food, large 

 numbers are annually destroyed for the sake of the 

 valuable down. 



The family of Laridce, containing the Gulls, Terns, 

 and Petrels, has been incidentally mentioned in a former- 

 chapter. It consists of a large number of species pecu- 

 liarly oceanic in their habits, and widely scattered over 



