THE GANNET 169 



bowman secured it in spite of a very severe bite which it inflicted 

 on his hand, and carried it home in triumph. It did not appear 

 to have received any injury, and when released, in the evening 

 of the same day, swam out to sea with great composure. A fisher- 

 man in Islay told me that in some parts of Scotland a singular 

 method of catching Gannets is adopted. A herring is fastened to 

 a board and sunk a few feet deep in the sea. The sharp eye of the 

 Gannet detects the fish, and the bird, first raising itself to an eleva- 

 tion which experience or instinct has taught it to be sufficient to 

 carry it down to the requisite depth, pounces on the fish, and in the 

 effort penetrates the board to which the fish is attached. Being 

 thus held fast by the beak, and unable to extricate itself, it is 

 drowned. Gannets are frequently caught in the herring-nets, at 

 various depths below the surface. Diving after the fish, they be- 

 come entangled in the nets, and are thus captured in a trap not 

 intended for them. They perform good service to fishermen, by 

 indicating at a great distance the exact position of the shoals of 

 fish.' 



Gannets breed in great numbers on several parts of our rocky 

 coast ; from the extreme north to Lundy Island in the Bristol 

 Channel. The two most important stations are St. Kilda and the 

 Bass Rock, in the Firth of Forth. On this rock stand the ruins of 

 the once formidable stronghold of the Douglas family, the Castle 

 of Tantallan. In circumference the island is about a mile ; on the 

 northern side it rises to an elevation of eight hundred feet, whilst 

 towards the south it shelves almost down to the sea. The isolated 

 position of this rock, and the difficulty of landing on it, have rendered 

 it a fit retreat for sea-fowl of various kinds ; and as the proprietor 

 ' preserves ' them, they flourish without sensible diminution. The 

 discharge of a gun causes the whole of the colony to take wing ; 

 and as they rise into the air, the eye of the spectator is dazzled by 

 the mazy intercrossings of white wings, the ear bewildered by the 

 discord of confused screamings. A visit paid at sunrise, when 

 flocks of various kinds are wheeling about in all directions, will 

 more than reward the early riser for his activity, for Scotland scarcely 

 offers a more interesting sight. Of all the numerous birds which 

 frequent the rock, the Solan Goose is the most abundant and most 

 profitable, as almost the only revenue of the island accrues from 

 the sale of these birds to the country people of the mainland, 

 and at the Edinburgh market, where they have fetched, for the last 

 century and a half, the unvarying price of two shillings and four- 

 pence a head. The size of the Gannet is somewhat larger than 

 that of the domestic Goose. 



' The only parts of the island where they can be approached are 

 on the south and west sides. They sit lazily and stupidly on and 

 about their nests, which are composed of a mass of weeds and grass, 

 and will suffer themselves to be stroked, patted, or knocked on the 



