496 PELECANID.E. 



the air in all directions, as soon as it discovers the fish it 

 rises to such a height as experience shows best calculated 

 to carry it by a downward motion to the required depth ; 

 and then partially closing its wings, it falls perpendicularly 

 on the prey, and rarely without success, the time between 

 the plunge and emersion being about fifteen seconds." 

 Gannets attracted to the same shoal, and fishing in com- 

 pany, are frequently caught in considerable numbers by 

 becoming entangled in the meshes of the fishermen's long 

 sea nets. 



North of the British Islands, the Gannet is found in the 

 Baltic, as high as the Gulf of Bothnia ; on the west coast 

 of Norway ; at the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Green- 

 land ; while from the coast of Labrador they are said to 

 go as far south as Carolina. Southward from England 

 the Gannet is included among the birds of Madeira and 

 South Africa. 



In the adult bird the bill is of a horny greyish-white ; 

 the edges serrated ; the naked skin of the face blue ; irides 

 pale straw yellow ; the head and neck buff colour ; all the 

 rest of the plumage white, except the wing-primaries, 

 which are black ; the line of the bones of the legs and 

 toes in front green, the other portions of the bones and the 

 connecting membranes almost black. The whole length of 

 the bird is about thirty-four inches ; from the wrist to the 

 end of the first quill -feather, which is the longest, nineteen 

 inches. 



In the immature bird the beak is almost black ; the 

 naked skin of the face bluish-black ; the general plumage 

 black, varied with lines and triangular spots of dull white, 

 giving the bird very much the appearance of the young of 

 the Red-throated Diver, in one of its stages, but the struc- 

 ture of the foot will prevent them being mistaken for each 

 other. 



