378 HISTORY or 



The cormorant has been remarked for the 

 quickness of his sight; yet in this the gannet 

 seems to exceed him. It is possessed of a trans- 

 parent membrane under the eye-lid, with which 

 it covers the whole eye at pleasure, without ob- 

 scuring the sight in the smallest degree. This 

 seems a necessary provision for the security of 

 the eyes of so weighty a creature, whose method 

 of taking prey, like that of the cormorant, is by 

 darting headlong down from a height of a hun- 

 dred feet and more into the water to seize it. 

 These birds are sometimes taken at sea, by fasten- 

 ing a pilchard to a board, which they leave float- 

 ing. The gannet instantly pounces down from 

 above upon the board, and is killed or maimed 

 by the shock of a body where it expected no re- 

 sistance. 



These birds breed but once a-year, and lay but 

 one egg, which being taken away, they lay ano- 

 ther ; if that is also taken, then a third, but 

 never more for that season. Their egg is white, 

 and rather less than that of the common goose ; 

 and their nest large, composed of such substances 

 as are found floating on the surface of the sea. 

 The young birds, during the first year, differ 

 greatly in colour from the old ones ; being of a 

 dusky hue, speckled with numerous triangular 

 white spots, and at that time resembling the 

 colours of the speckled diver. 



The Bass Island, where they chiefly breed, be- 

 longs to one proprietor ; so that care is taken 

 never to fright away the birds when laying, or to 

 shoot them upon the wing. By that means, they 



