BERNACLE. 377 



among the more uninformed of the Scottish peasantry 

 at the present day, that the soland goose, or gannet 

 (Sula alba, MAYER), not the bernacle, grows by the 

 bill upon the cliffs of the Bass, of Ailsa, and of St. 

 Kilda ; and we have even heard this maintained by 

 persons of good education, the notion having no 

 doubt arisen from confounding the fables respecting 

 the bernacle with the prodigious number of the gan- 

 nets bred on those rocky islets. Some idea of their 

 multitude may be formed from the fact, that the pro- 

 prietor of the Bass is said to make 130Z. per annum by 

 them*, and from Martin's estimating the consumption 

 of the inhabitants of St. Kilda alone at 22,600 of the 

 young gannets, besides a countless number of eggs, 

 which are preserved throughout the year in pyramidal 

 stone buildings, closely covered with turff. This 

 provision is procured at the hazard of the lives of the 

 fowlers, who have to clamber on the rocks at a pro- 

 digious height over a raging sea, or to be lowered 

 down to the nests from above, and, hanging in mid 



Fowlers of St. Kilda. 



* Voyage to St. Kilda, p. 27. 

 t Ray's Select Remains, p. 193, 



