THE GANNET 



209 



over. The bill is six inches long, straight 

 almost to the point, where it inclines down, 

 and the sides are irregularly jagged, that it 

 may hold its prey with greater security. It 

 differs from the cormorant in size, being 

 larger ; and its colour, which is chiefly white ; 

 and by its having no nostrils, but in their 

 place a long furrow that reaches almost to the 

 end of the bill. From the corner of the mouth 

 is a narrow slip of black bare skin, that ex- 

 tends to the hind part of the head ; beneath 

 the skin is another that, like the pouch of the 

 pelican, is dilatable, and of size sufficient to 

 contain five or six entire herrings, which in 

 the breeding season it carries at once to its 

 mate or its young. 



These birds, which subsist entirely upon 

 fish, chiefly resort to those uninhabited islands 

 where their food is found in plenty, and men 

 seldom come to disturb them. The islands to 

 the north of Scotland, the Skelig islands off" 

 the coasts of Kerry in Ireland, and those that 

 lie in the north sea off Norway, abound with 

 them. But it is on the Bass island, in the 

 Frith of Edinburgh, where they are seen in 



per annum,* and as the proceeds chiefly depend upon 

 the produce of the gannets, great care is taken to pro- 

 tect the old birds, which the tenant is enabled to do from 

 the privilege possessed by the proprietor, of preventing 

 any person from shooting or otherwise destroying them 

 within a certain limited distance of the island. From 

 the accounts I have received from the resident there, 

 it appears that the gannet is a very long-lived bird, as 

 he has recognised, from particular and well-known 

 marks, certain individuals for upwards of forty years, 

 that invariably returned to the same spot to breed. He 

 also confirmed to me the time required for this bird to 

 attain maturity, viz. four years; and pointed out several 

 in the different garbs they assume during that period, 

 stating also, that until fully matured, they have never 

 been known to breed. During incubation, in conse- 

 quence of being unmolested, they become very tame; 

 and, where the nests are easily accessible upon the flat 

 surface of the rock on the south-west side of the island, 

 will allow themselves to be stroked by the hand without 

 resistance, or any show even of impatience, except the 

 low guttural cry of grog, grog. Upon the other breed- 

 ing stations above mentioned, the produce of the gannet 

 is equally prized, and immense numbers, both of the 

 eggs and young, are annually taken, and preserved by 

 the inhabitants for winter's consumption. From the 

 great development of the wings, and the peculiar appa- 

 ratus of air-cells distributed over different parts of the 

 body, the flight of this bird is powerful and buoyant, 

 and can be supported for any length of time. When in 

 search of prey, it soars usually at a considerable eleva- 

 tion, as it thus obtains a sufficient impetus in its fall to 

 reach the fish beneath the surface; at other times, when 

 making its way to any distant point, or in dark and 

 stormy weather, it flies comparatively low. Its food 

 consists almost entirely ot the different species of her- 

 ring, which it always takes by plunging vertically upon 

 them as they rise within a certain distance of the top of 

 the water. The force with which it descends in this 

 operation, may be conceived from the fact of gannets 

 having been taken by a fish fastened to a board sunk to 



* Other statements make tlie rental only 30. 

 VOL. II. 



the greatest abundance. " There is a small 

 island," says the celebrated Harvey, " called 

 the Bass, not more than a mile in circum- 

 ference. The surface is almost wholly co- 

 vered during the months of May and June 

 with their nests, their eggs, and young. It 

 is scarcely possible to walk without treading 

 on them : the flocks of birds upon the wing, 

 are so numerous, as to darken the air like a 

 cloud ; and their noise is such, that one can- 

 not without difficulty be heard by the person 

 next to him. When one looks down upon 

 the sea from the precipice, its whole surface 

 seems covered with infinite numbers of birds 

 of different kinds, swimming and pursuing 

 their prey. If, in sailing round the island, 

 one surveys its hanging cliffs, in every crag, 

 or fissure of the broken rocks, may be seen 

 innumerable birds, of various sorts and sizes, 

 more than the stars of heaven, when viewed 

 in a serene night. If they are viewed at 

 a distance, either receding, or in their ap- 

 proach to the island, they seem like one vast 

 swarm of bees." 



They are not less frequent upon the rocks 



the depth of two fathoms, in which cases the neck has 

 either been found dislocated, or the bill firmly fixed in 

 the wood. Pennant, and some other writers, describe 

 this bird as having a gular pouch similar to that of the 

 pelican, and capable of containing five or six herrings; 

 this, however, is not correct, as that part is not more 

 dilatable than the rest of the gullet, which, as well as 

 the skin of the neck, can occasionally stretch to much 

 extent, readily allowing a passage to the largest herring, 

 or even to a fish of still greater dimensions. Montagu 

 observes, that he was not able to keep the gannet alive 

 in confinement; but this probably arose from the want 

 of a due supply of fish, as I have known them to live for 

 a long time in a domesticated state, and my friend Mr 

 Neill of Canonmills, near Edinburgh, (well known to 

 the scientific world as a botanist and a lover of natural 

 history), has at present, or at least within a very late 

 period had, one in the full enjoyment of health for many 

 years past. This bird, when herrings could not be pro- 

 cured, was fed with flounders, which it swallowed with 

 the greatest apparent ease, the gape readily accomodat- 

 ing itself to their greater breadth. It is almost un- 

 necessary to add, that all fish are swallowed with the 

 head foremost. Sometimes the gannet becomes so 

 gorged with food, as to be compelled to alight on the 

 water, and to repose there in ja lethargic state ; and 

 when thus situated, it may, by being advanced upon in 

 a boat from the windward, be easily run down and cap- 

 tured. This arises from its being unable to leave the 

 water except when breasting the wind, and ft never 

 makes any attempt to dive, of which power it seems to 

 be totally divested. This species is widely distributed 

 throughout the northern parts of Europe, and is also 

 common to North America. The body of this bird is 

 long and much flattened, with the neck elongated, and 

 thick and muscular, in order to support its powerful 

 bill ; the wings are of great length, the radius (or second 

 joint) measuring fully eight inches; and the legs are not 

 placed so far behind as in the cormorants, so that the 

 horizontal position is preserved in walking. In its 

 affinities it seems to connect the true pelicans with the 



genera Tachypetes and Phaeton Selby's British Orni* 



thology. 



2 D 



