14 GARNET. 



Great numbers of Gannets are taken for the sake of their 

 feathers and down, which are very valuable. They are sold 

 for as much as one and eightpence each. They are also eaten 

 by those who can get no better food. They are tameable 

 birds, and will live for many years if kept by a piece of water. 



Montagu points out a very curious peculiarity in the forma- 

 tion of the Gannet. I give the subjoined extracts from his 

 account: 



'In the act of respiration, there appears to be always some 

 air propelled between the skin and the body of this bird, as 

 a visible expansion and contraction is observed about the 

 breast; and this singular conformation makes the bird so buoyant, 

 that it floats high on the water, and . not sunk beneath its 

 surface as observed in the Cormorant and Shag. The legs 

 are not placed so far behind as in such of the feathered tribe 

 as procure their subsistence by immersion: the Gannet, con- 

 sequently, has the centre of gravity placed more forward, and, 

 when standing, the body is nearly horizontal like a Goose, 

 and not erect like a Cormorant. 



Having, by the dissection of a specimen of the Gannet 

 for preservation, noticed the slight and partial adhesion of 

 the skin to the flesh of the whole under part of the body, 

 we availed ourselves of the opportunity of paying more 

 attention to the structure of this bird, and by experiments 

 endeavoured to discover to what extent, and upon what 

 principle, the inflation of the body was performed. 



The appearance of so singular a conformation, brought to 

 recollection what Buffon relates of the Pelican; who remarks, 

 that from the lungs the air passes through axillary pipes, into 

 a thick vesicular cellular membrane, that covers the muscles 

 and envelopes the whole body. The structure, however, of 

 the Gannet, although probably intended for similar purposes, 

 is very different from that of the Pelican, according to the 

 relation of that naturalist. 



By comparative anatomy it has been clearly demonstrated, 

 that birds in general are provided with air-vessels in different 

 parts of the body, and that many of their bones are not 

 destitute of this contrivance, admirably fitted for increasing 

 their levity, and consequent buoyancy, as well as progressive 

 motion through that element . in which they are intended 

 principally to move; and that too, with a velocity that i'ar 

 surpasses 'all other parts of animated nature. Mr. John Hunter, 

 (in the Transactions of the Iloyal Society,) proves that the 



