birds, when cleaned, is boiled down into oil and sold 

 for from three to four shillings the gallon ; and in 

 addition to this, the feathers realize about fifteen to 

 sixteen shillings a stone. These are used for making 

 beds, but have to go through some powerful baking 

 process in order to remove the smell of the guano 

 which clings to them. A roast goose^ appears to 

 be a favourite dish with some of the visitors at 

 North Berwick, but the stink of the oil and the 

 cooking at Canty Bay set me for ever against such 

 a greasy delicacy. 



The specimens in the case were obtained at 

 the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth during the 

 summer of 1874. 



See " Eough Notes," Vol. III., Plates 26, 27 and 28. 



Many of these birds may be observed fishing outside 

 the harbour of Castlebay in the island of Barra, in the 

 summer. It is a magnificent sight to see them rising off the 

 water in the evening in great circles to such a height that 

 they appear scarcely more than specks in the sky, when they 

 .start off in a bee-line to their breeding station on Sulisgeir, 

 120 miles off. Ed. 



"GANNET. (IMMATURE). 

 Case 154. 



The present case shows the Gannets in the 

 intermediate stages between the nestling and the 

 mature bird. Though the men in charge of the 

 Bass Rock always declare that the Geese are five 

 years old before they assume the full plumage, I 

 think there can be but little doubt that it is attained 

 in the third year. 



From having myself kept these birds in 

 captivity for the last two years, I can already 

 perceive that the stage that they describe as two 

 years old is, in reality, only an early hatched bird of 

 the preceding season ; in like manner I expect that 



* In this district a Gannet is always termed a Goose. 



