366 THE GANNET 



Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, pp. 155-6). Not very gregarious out of the 

 breeding season, being most often seen singly or in twos or threes. " During the 

 winter months dead gannets are often washed up on all parts of the coast [of North 

 Wales], and these are usually adults. On the other hand, the birds carried inland 

 by gales from time to time are generally immature" (Forrest, loc. cit.). [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nests are built in close proximity to one another on 

 ledges of precipices bordering on the sea, and the colonies are generally large and some- 

 times of enormous extent. In some places the usual material is seaweed, but in others 

 grasses, rushes, etc., while all kinds of articles, such as paper, rags, straw from wine 

 bottles, bits of cork, old clothes, and even the remains of a parasol have been found 

 in the nests. (PI. Lxxm.) Both sexes take part in the work of providing material 

 (E. T. Booth). The egg is white and somewhat similar in appearance to that of the 

 cormorant, but larger and showing less of the blue undershell : the chalky deposit 

 on the surface readily absorbs stains from the nest materials, so that many eggs are 

 covered with dark brown nest-stains. (PL V.) Average size of 55 eggs, 3*06 x 1-96 in. 

 [77'8x49*9 mm.]. Only a single egg is laid, which is incubated by the male and 

 female in turn (see p. 376), and the incubation period is extraordinarily long. Faber 

 erroneously gives it as 30 days ; but Hantzsch more correctly states that it lasts six 

 or seven weeks, and says that eggs can be easily blown after 2 to 3 weeks' incubation. 

 W. Evans found that one egg hatched under a hen on the 39th day, while a second 

 had a live chick in it on the 42nd day. E. T. Booth gives the period as noted in con- 

 finement as 43 days, and the Rev. Neil Mackenzie as 42 (Annals Scot. Nat. Hist., 1905, 

 p. 144). The first eggs may be laid as early as the end of March, but many birds 

 do not lay till the first half of May. Only a single chick is reared in the season, 

 but a second egg, a third (Mackenzie), or more (J. M. Campbell) are laid if the first 

 is taken. [F. c. B. jr.] 



5. Food. Fish, such as herring, pilchard, and sprat, that swim near the 

 surface ; also cuttle-fish, according to Naumann. The young are fed by both 

 parents, at first on semi-digested fish, later on fish disgorged whole (see pp. 378-9). 

 [F. B. K.] 



