194 GANNET. 



breed on the islands near North Britain, and the 

 manner by which the fowler may distinguish their 

 alarm, I find, that precisely what I should have ob- 

 served is already so much more ably described, that 

 I consider it better to quote the accounts from Dr. 

 Harvey (as translated in Pennant), Bewick, and 

 Martin, than attempt any one of my own, which 

 would be a mere corroboration of what these authors 

 have asserted. 



" There is a small island, called by the Scotch, 

 Bass Island," in the Frith of Forth, " not more than 

 a mile in circumference : the surface is almost wholly 

 covered, during the months of May and June, with 

 nests, eggs, and young birds, so that it is scarcely 

 possible to walk without treading on them ; and the 

 flocks of birds in flight are so prodigious, as to darken 

 the air like clouds ; and their noise is such, that you 

 cannot, without difficulty, hear your next neighbour's 

 voice. If you look down upon the sea from the top 

 of the precipice, you will see it on every side covered 

 with infinite numbers of birds of different kinds, 

 swimming and hunting for their prey ; if, in sailing 

 round the island, you survey the hanging cliffs, you 

 may see, in every crag or fissure of the broken 

 rocks, innumerable birds, of various sorts and sizes, 

 more than the stars of heaven when viewed in ' a 

 serene night. If from afar you see the distant flocks, 

 either flying to or from the island, you would imagine 

 them to be a vast swarm of bees." 



This island is " farmed out at a considerable rent 



