DIVERS, GREBES, AND CORMORANTS. 183 



such close companionship leads to not a few battles 

 between the birds themselves. Indeed, a sort of 

 guerilla warfare is being waged constantly, and is 

 by no means one of the least interesting features of 

 the never-to-be-forgotten scene. The nest of the 

 Gannet possesses little architectural beauty, and is 

 generally so trodden out of shape as to resemble a 

 mere heaped mass of rubbish, caked together with 

 droppings, and slime, and filth, giving off an almost 

 unbearable stench, especially on a calm hot day in 

 May or June. Seaweed, masses of turf, straws, 

 moss, and stalks of marine plants are the principal 

 materials. The nest is shaped like a flattened cone, 

 the cavity at the top being shallow. It is no unusual 

 thing to see the birds adding to their nests, even 

 when incubation is in progress. The Gannet lays 

 but a single egg, but if this be taken as it often 

 is, especially in colonies easily accessible to man 

 the bird will replace it several times in succession. 

 It is pale bluish-green, but generally so thickly 

 coated with chalky matter and later with stains 

 as to hide all trace of this colour. There are few 

 more noisy animated scenes in bird life than a Gannet 

 colony, during the height of the breeding season, 

 The stirring sight once witnessed can never be 

 forgotten. The air, for many yards from the face of 

 the cliffs and high above it, is filled with thousands 

 of flying Gannets ; every available spot, on the 

 edges and face of the rock itself, is occupied by a 

 Gannet, the standing birds vieing with each other in 



