180 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



The effect is most startling as the big birds dash 

 out of the gloomy sea caves one after the other. 

 The only note I have heard this species utter has 

 been a low croak. 



GANNET. 



This remarkable bird differs in many important 

 respects from all other pelagic species inhabiting the 

 temperate portions of the northern hemisphere. 

 Outside the limits of the British Islands its only 

 other breeding places in Europe are on Iceland and 

 the Faroes. The Gannet or Solan Goose, the Siila 

 bassana of Brisson and modern naturalists, is one of 

 the most pelagic of birds. Except during the 

 breeding season it is rarely seen near land, the 

 thousands of birds that congregate in a few chosen 

 spots round the British coasts dispersing themselves 

 far out to sea as soon as the duties of the year are 

 over. Like the Albatross, the Gannet may almost 

 be said to live in the air. Its powers of flight are 

 simply magnificent. Occasionally a few odd birds 

 may be observed here and there fishing in the bays, 

 during autumn and winter ; but the person who 

 would study its habits and movements thoroughly 

 must visit one of its breeding places. There are 

 many colonies of Gannets round the British coasts, 

 one of the most accessible, and perhaps the most 

 famous, being on the Bass Rock, in the Firth of 

 Forth. There are small ones on Lundy Island and 

 Grassholm ; large ones on Suleskerry, Sulisker, 

 St. Kilda, Ailsa Craig, and Little Skellig. The 



