10 PELECANIOZE 



The nest is made chiefly of seaweed with grasses and 

 other herbage, while " rags and paper, the straw of wine- 

 bottles and pieces of cork are used" (Ussher). The single 

 egg has a white crust of limy material, under which is 

 a pale blue shell. The outer coat soon becomes dis- 

 coloured. Incubation begins early in May, and the birds 

 are remarkably fearless when hatching, allowing themselves 

 in some cases to be touched by the hand, provided their 

 haunts are approached quietly. The young are hatched 

 naked and with their eyelids closed, and are fed after the 

 manner of young Cormorants. 



As a British bird the Gannet breeds on Grassholm, off 

 Pembrokeshire, the one colony in Wales : Lundy Island, its 

 only breeding station in England, may possibly still accom- 

 modate a few pairs. 



In Scotland arid the neighbouring islands, this bird 

 nests on the Bass Rock, off Haddingtonshire ; Ailsa Craig 

 in the Firth of Clyde; on Boreray in St. Kilda ; on Sulis- 

 geir, thirty-five miles north of the Butt of Lewis ; and at 

 Suliskerry, forty miles west of Stromness (Saunders). 



In Ireland it breeds on the Bull Rock, off co. Cork ; 

 and more numerously on the Little Skellig, off the coast 

 of Kerry. (Plate V.) 



Geographical distribution. Abroad, the Gannet breeds 

 in the Faroes and in Iceland, also on some of the islands 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. During its peregrinations 

 in autumn and winter, it wanders over the North Atlantic 

 Ocean as far south as lat. 25 N., extending westward from 

 North Africa to Central America. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head and back 

 of neck, light buff; rest of the plumage pure white, except 

 the primaries which are black ; tail, wedge-shaped, the central 

 feathers being the longest. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage. 



Adult winter, male and female. Similar to the nuptial 

 plumage. 



Immature, male and female. Head, hind-neck, back and 

 wings, dark brown speckled with white ; throat and rest of 

 neck, breast and abdomen, mottled greyish-brown and 



