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O an net The Gannet or Solan Goose presents on flight a 

 noble appearance, as with straightly outstretched wings, it 

 circles round its haunts high above the sea. Again, its 

 plunge is impressive, as it hurls itself from a height of over 

 a hundred feet into the sea, which it strikes with great violence, dis- 

 appearing in a cloud of spray ; this is its method of catching the 

 herring on which it feeds, and as the fisherman starts off on a similar 

 pursuit, he eagerly looks for direction to where these natural fishers 

 are at work. The Gannet is provided with a wonderful apparatus in 

 the shape of a series of small sacks lying immediately beneath the 

 skin of the breast. These sacks it can at will inflate, thus forming a 

 pneumatic cushion to enable it to resist the impact caused by meeting 

 the water after its headlong descent from on high, and also rendering 

 its return to the surface more easy on account of this added buoyancy. 

 The Gannet breeds in colonies, notably on Ailsa Craig, St. Kilda, 

 and the Bass Rock, It builds a somewhat large nest of seaweed and 

 grasses, and in this lays a single egg of a very pale blue colour, but 

 this ground-colour is quite obscured by a thick deposit of a chalky 

 nature. 



Grebe, Great Crested This bird is not common, though owing 

 to the protection afforded of late years to birds, it appears to be 

 increasing in numbers. It is found breeding in many of the lakes of 

 England and Ireland, and in certain of the lochs of southern Scotland. 

 The colour of the bird is black above, with the undersurface of the 

 body white. The crown of the head is black, and extends to a tuft 

 of long feathers running down each side of the neck. The Great 

 Crested Grebe is a strong swimmer, and when pursued usually 

 escapes by diving, though capable of a powerful and sustained flight. 

 In the marshy lakes of Pomerania, it is said to be numerous, and 

 is there gregarious, but in Britain as a rule, only one pair is to be 

 found breeding in one locality. The nest is composed of dead flags 

 and reeds, of which a flat and floating mass is constructed among the 

 growing reeds. On this are deposited the eggs, three or four in 

 number, of a greenish white, covered with a chalky substance, 

 which during incubation becomes discoloured to a dirty brown. 



Grouse, Red This bird is peculiar to the British Isles, and has 

 been of no inconsiderable advantage to the development of the 

 wilder and, lacking its presence, the otherwise unproductive parts. 

 The pursuit of the "little red bird " brings to the Highlands of 



game-keepers, etc., distribute moneys in neighbourhoods towards 

 which no other means would divert wealth. The plumage of the 

 Red Grouse is variable, there being three distinctive forms, a red, 

 a black and a white spotted form, and even in these the coloura- 

 tion is not constant, varying much in different seasons. The food of 

 the Red Grouse consists largely of the young tops of heather, but it 

 also feeds on insects and in the autumn months is extremely fond 

 of the ripened corn, descending at this season to the lower ground, 

 where coveys may often be seen perched and feeding greedily upon 

 the sheaves of corn. The crow of the cock grouse is loud and clear, 

 and as the wanderer over the moor in spring hears this rich cry 

 resembling in sound "Come back, Come back," his advance usually 

 results in the flushing of the birds, which rise strongly on the wing 

 with a loud whirring noise. The careful preservation of the grouse 

 by the destruction of its enemies, the peregrine falcon, the weasel 

 and the fox, has enabled the species to largely increase its 



