LXXIX. SOLAN GOOSE, OE GANNET. 



(Sula bassana.} 



THIS plate is from memoranda of what I have often seen on the 

 Ayrshire coast, nearly opposite Ailsa Craig, which is introduced 

 in the distance. On that coast a number of Solan Geese may be 

 seen pouring into a small spot of the sea, and then rising heavily 

 from the water and wheeling round till they attain a sufficient 

 height to see the fish below, wfien they close their wings, and 

 dart headlong down again to seize their prey. 



We see them frequently in the Bay at Eoshven, mostly in 

 autumn or in stormy weather. They probably come from Ailsa 

 Craig, as there is no place nearer here where they congregate or 

 breed. There is a colony of them on the Bass Eock, which is 

 the best place of all for seeing them in their nests. Such 

 persons as cannot get there may see the scene admirably repre- 

 sented in a group in the Natural History Museum in Cromwell 

 Eoad. 



The first plumage of the Solan Goose (which it retains for, I 

 believe, two years) is dark brown, spotted with white. It is a 

 mystery to me where they spend their adolescence, one so seldom 

 sees them anywhere, not even near the Bass Eock nor Ailsa 

 Craig. All I have seen there have been white. The only one 

 I ever saw in full brown plumage was in the Bay of Biscay, on 

 a very stormy day in October. I have occasionally seen one not 

 yet quite white, but with some patches of brown still remaining. 



175 



