THE GANNET. 



393 



a furious charge, that the owner was obliged to come to his 

 assistance with a stick, and even then could not keep them 

 off without much difficulty. Their attack on dogs, cats, and 

 poultry, if unprotected, was always fatal. They fought at once 

 with their bills, wings, and claws, screaming frightfully all the 

 time. They were on this account at last parted with, having 

 killed a favourite pointer. The poor dog had incautiously 

 strayed into the place where they were kept, when they 

 immediately flew at him, and attacked him in front and rear: 

 his loud howlings brought his master to his aid, but too late ; 

 they had got him down, and inflicted fatal wounds. 



The chief difference between Cormorants and the Frigate- 

 birds, so called from their keeping a sharp look-out on other 

 birds, and robbing them of their fish, consists in the latter 

 having forked tails like our Swallows : their spread of wing 

 is also proportionably much larger, and they are altogether of 

 a lighter and more elegant appearance. We know but little 

 of them ; indeed, our knowledge is limited to one species 

 only, the TacTiypetes aquila, of which we have already 

 spoken (see page 78), when considering the buoyancy of 

 birds and their power of floating in the air. We shall there- 

 fore proceed to the next genus, Gannets, or Boobies, as some 

 of them are called by sailors, owing to the stupidity with 

 which they suffer themselves to be attacked and robbed by 

 men and birds. 



The Common Gannet (Solan Goose) is the species to which 

 we shall confine our remarks : well known as it must be to 

 those who have sailed on either side of the Scottish coast, as 

 well as several other shores of our island, it will be more 

 familiar to many under the name of the Solan Goose. Like 

 most of the other birds of this tribe, it is profusely supplied 

 with air-cells; and we refer our readers to the account 

 already given (page 53) of these peculiarities in its formation, 

 merely adding, that from the facility of procuring specimens, 

 a close examination of this species is recommended to those 

 naturalists who wish to acquire more information on the 

 internal economy of air-inflated birds. 



In our account of the dismal tempests that so often prove 



