THE GANNET 373 



upon the rock, with their wings outspread and pressed down so as to 

 get a good purchase, an attitude which renders them peculiarly vulner- 

 able to the pecks of third parties only too ready to profit by the 

 opportunity. The contest may be protracted, and sometimes ends by 

 both birds falling off the ledge into the sea, where they continue in a 

 semi-submerged state to struggle till one has had enough and manages 

 to escape. 



It is more than probable that a gannet returns to the same nest- 

 site each year, and builds upon what is left of the old nest, if anything, 

 but direct evidence is lacking. As material is constantly being added 

 to the nest throughout the season 18th August is the latest date 

 I have recorded the structure is sometimes of considerable size. 

 It is built without art, and becomes gradually a flat, almost solid, mass 

 of seaweed, straw, food refuse, and other materials. The material is 

 obtained chiefly from the top of the island, the ledges, and the surface 

 of the sea. It is the latter that provides many of the curious articles 

 found in gannets' nests, such as golf-balls, toys, and candle-ends. 1 

 E. T. Booth saw one of his captive gannets pluck feathers from its 

 own back and place them on the nest, a waste of labour, as it 

 happened, for the bird chanced to flap its wings shortly after and 

 the feathers were blown away. 2 The gannet has another source of 

 supply in the nests of its neighbours, which, in their absence, it robs 

 in the most shameless, one might almost say conscientious manner, 

 and in doing so it suffers none of that interference from bystanders 

 without which, according to an authority already quoted, 3 " no nesting 

 associations of birds could exist." 



Both sexes take part in the building of the nest, but the share of 

 each is doubtful. On the only occasion when I could be certain of 

 the sex of the birds, owing to the evidence supplied by the act of 

 pairing, it was the male who brought the material and the female 

 who put it in place. It is worth adding that immature birds may 



1 See also " Classified Notes." ' Rough Notes, vol. iii. 



* Prince Kropotkin, op. cit., p. 58. 



VOL. iv. SB 



