G A N N E T. 



611 



females are found, charged with eggs at different 

 periods. The wading birds and many fishes devour 

 them in their turn. They appear to quit the coast 

 at the end of September, and almost simultaneously, 

 for, at this time, not a single individual is often to be 

 found in the places where they had only a few days 

 previously swarmed. A more extended account of 

 the muscle fishery of La Rochelle, and of the attacks 

 of these insects, is to be found in the tenth volume 

 of the Encyclopedic Methodique, contained in a 

 letter from M. d'Abigny to Latreille, and from which 

 the above details are given. 



Another curious genus in this family is Cerapus, of 

 which an account has been already given. Amongst the 

 other numerous genera, we shall only notice that of 

 Talitrus, Latreille, in which the upper antenna are 

 very short, the lower long, with the terminal division 

 annular, and the four anterior legs not distinctly claw- 

 shaped. The typical species is Talitrus locusta, 

 which is very abundant on our sandy shores, burrow- 

 ing into the sand, and, unlike the majority of the 

 order to which it belongs, seldom or never entering 

 the water. It serves as food to many of the shore 

 birds, which feed upon it with avidity. The follow- 

 ing notice of its habits by Dr. Kidd, is from the En- 

 tomological Magazine : " Under the sea-wrack, were 

 shoals of that little jumping shrimp, with a large head, 

 which is found upon nearly every coast ; on lift- 

 ing up a handful of sea-wrack, they swarmed and 

 leaped about like fleas some of them being scarcely 

 bigger. These little fellows are the best anatomists 

 in the world, in a single night they will turn a small 

 animal into a more beautifully white and clean and 

 perfect skeleton than can be obtained by any other 

 means. They are of all sizes, from half an inch long 

 to no size at all." 



GANNET (Sula). A very interesting and highly 

 characteristic genus of sea birds, belonging to Cuvier's 

 order of Tutipalmce, or those which have the web, or 

 swimming membrane, extended to the entire foot, and 

 including the hind toe as well as the three front ones. 

 All birds which have the feet of this structure, have 

 them turned obliquely inward, so that they have 

 an awkward appearance when on the ground, and the 

 birds have an ungainly and wriggling walk. They 

 are remarkably well adapted however for rising from 

 the surface of the water, which is an action that these 

 birds often have to perform, as the whole of them 

 subsist chiefly by fishing, and by dashing down from 

 the sky on their prey, and not pursuing it in the 

 water, as is the case with the diving birds. 



The following are the characters of the genus : the 

 bill straight, slightly compressed, pointed, and a very 

 little arched at the point ; the edges are lined with 

 small teeth, which are inclined backwards like barbs. 

 The nostrils are nearly closed, and capable of being 

 entirely so ; the throat is naked, and is covered with 

 black skin, which also extends round the eyes, has 

 much the appearance of Indian-rubber, and like that 

 substance is very extensible ; the claw of the middle 

 toe is toothed like a comb ; the wings are long, 

 though perhaps not so much so in proportion as they 

 are in some of the entire-footed birds, which range 

 the wide and fertile expanse of the tropical seas. 

 They are timid birds, and peaceable and inoffensive in 

 their manners ; and they are at the same time heed- 

 less of the approach of danger. On this account they 

 have had such names as " fools," and " boobies," 

 bestowed upon them ; but all such epithets given to 



animals are absurd ; man is the only member of the 

 animal kingdom that is, or that can be, a fool. 



There is only one species known in the British 

 seas ; and that is the only one of which the characters 

 are ascertained with any thing like accuracy, and to 

 which the name " Gannet" applies. To it, therefore, 

 our present notice must be chiefly confined. 



The common Gannet (Sula Bassanus), which is also 

 called the Solan goose, (which is only an incorrect 

 pronunciation of" Sula goose," the name of the bird 

 on the coast of Norway and in the Faroe islands,) is 

 remarkable for the vast numbers in which it assembles 

 on some parts of the British shores during the breed- 

 ing: season. The lofty rock of the Bass in the Frith 

 of Forth, Ailsa Crag in the Frith of Clyde, and 

 man}' of the detached rocks and lofty headlands along 

 the northern and western parts of Scotland are so 

 thronged with these birds in the season, that they 

 appear as if covered with snow. 



The full grown gannet weighs about seven pounds ; 

 it measures about three feet in length, and six feet in 

 the extent of the wings ; the bill is nearly straight, 

 except towards the point, where it declines a little, 

 and is about six inches in length ; the edges of the 

 mandibles are a little jagged irregularly and sharp ; 

 the colour dirty yellowish white ; near the base of 

 the upper mandible is a sharp process and suture, 

 which enables the bird to move it a little in the act of 

 swallowing large fish ; there are two longitudinal 

 grooves along the sides, running the whole length, 

 but no nostrils ; the irides are pale yellow ; the skin 

 is bare round the eyes and of a bluish colour ; the 

 chin is of a dusky colour, destitute of feathers, capable 

 of great distension, and forming a kind of pouch ; 

 except the crown of the head which is buff colour, the 

 whole plumage is white ; the tail feathers are strong 

 and pointed, and twelve in number ; the bill is of a 

 bluish grey colour, when alive ; the legs are of a 

 dusky colour, singularly marked, with the front bluish 

 yellow, which divides at the feet, forming a line of the 

 same colour ; along the ridge of the two front toes, 

 the united membrane is unusually strong, and almost 

 as transparent as glass. 



The northern regions of the two continents are the 

 chief haunts of this species. Individuals are observed 

 in hard winters, on the coasts of England, France, 

 and Holland, but they breed abundantly on the Bass 

 island, in the Frith of Edinburgh, on Ailsa, oft' the 

 coast of Ayrshire, the Sketting isles, on the coast of 

 Kerry in Ireland, the islands of St. Kilda, Shetland, 

 Orkney, Faroe, &c. In the summer season the rocks 

 of St. Kilda are quite covered with these and other 

 sea-birds, and appear at some distance like hills co- 

 vered with snow. In the Orcadian and Shetlandian 

 seas, although common, the gannets of that range 

 chiefly breed on the stack " Sula's Skerry." In those 

 districts which we have just mentioned, the gannet 

 arrives in March, and remains till September ; nor is 

 it known in this hemisphere to breed much further 

 south than the coasts of Scotland. Some few of them 

 remain about their breeding stations all the winter, 

 but they are supposed to be the old ones, which are 

 unequal to the distant flight undertaken by the others. 

 They do not depart or arrive all at the same time. 

 A few of the forerunners are first seen about the 

 Bass ; and a short time afterwards the main body 

 follows in several successive divisions. As this bird 

 must, previously to taking wing, let itself fall, it re- 

 quires a steep and precipitous breeding place. From 

 QQ2 



