198 GANNET. 



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 dif- 

 ficulty, 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 for 

 the eggs of the various kinds of water fowl, with which 

 it swarms ; and the produce of the solan geese forms a 

 large portion of the rent ; for great numbers of their 

 young ones are taken every season, and sold in Edin- 

 burgh for twenty-pence each, where they are esteemed 

 a favourite dish, being generally roasted and eat before 

 dinner." 



" The solan geese have always some of their number 

 that keep watch in the night-time ; and if the sentinel 

 be surprised, as it often happens, all that flock are taken 



