SOLAN GANNET. NATATORES. SULA. 457 



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 con- 

 firmed to me the time required for this bird to attain matu- 

 rity, viz. four years ; and pointed out several in the different 

 garbs they assume during that period, stating also, that un- 

 til fully matured, they have never been known to breed. 

 During incubation, in consequence of being unmolested, they 

 become very tame ; and, where the nests are easily accessi- 

 ble 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 shew 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 apparatus 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 con- 

 siderable elevation, 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 of the different species of herring, which it 

 always takes by plunging vertically upon them as they rise 

 within a certain distance of the top of the water. The force 



* For a detailed and interesting account of the anatomical structure of 

 this bird, I must (on account of its length) refer my readers to MONTAGU'S 

 Supplement to his Ornithological Dictionary, under the article " Gannet ;" 

 or to a paper in the first volume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Natu- 

 ral History Society, p. 176, entitled " Observations on some Peculiarities 

 observable in the Structure of the Gannet," &c. 



