SOLAN GOOSE 



Snla Bassana 



Gannet is a resident along the shores of the British 

 Islands, but its colonies are very sparingly distributed ; 

 they are seven in number, of which five are off the coast of 

 Scotland, one in Ireland, and one in Hngland. 



It is a bird of extremely powerful Hight, and lives 

 almost exclusively in the air ; it does not remain long 

 sitting on the water, except when sleeping. It may often 

 be seen at a great height soaring in the air without a movement of its extended 

 wings, wheeling round and round, generally above the water, as it is seldom 

 seen inland. A flock of these birds is most interesting to watch, especially 

 if they are following some shoal of fish. They soar in wide circles, crossing 

 and recrossing each other, often at a considerable height in the air; every 

 now and then one dives with a loud splash into the water and reappears with 

 a fish, which it speedily swallows whole, and, rising from the water, returns to 

 join the flock wheeling above. These flocks follow the shoals of fish to great 

 distances, and frequently fly more than a hundred miles during the day to feed. 



The food of the Gannet is exclusively composed of fish, which it usually 

 catches by dropping down upon them from a considerable height in the air, 

 herrings being its favourite food in our seas. It is a very greedy bird, and 

 being blessed with a good and very rapid digestion, is always on the look-out 

 for more, like the fat boy in Pickwick, very often eating so largely that it is 

 unable to rise from the water, where it floats to sleep off the effects of its gluttony. 

 The Gannet breeds in large colonies on some towering ocean rock. Some 

 of these colonies are enormously large, such as the one on Sulisgeir or Sulisker, 

 north of Lewis, which is estimated at 150,000 pairs. The eggs are usually 

 laid in May, and I quote the following description of a visit to the Bass 

 Rock from my Journal : 



63 



