BIRDS. 379 



caught the fish by the tail ; and consequently the fins prevent its 

 being easily swallowed in that position. In this case, the bird 

 is seen to toss its prey above its head, and very dexterously to 

 catch it, when descending, by the proper end, and so swallow it 

 with ease. 



CHAP. V. 



OF THE GANiXET, OR SOLAND GOOSE. 



The Gannet is of the size of" a tame goose, but its winga 

 much longer, being six feet over. The bill is six inches long, 

 straight almost to the point, where it inclines down, and the 

 sides are irregularly jagged, that it may hold its prey with greater 

 security. It differs from the cormorant in size, being larger; 

 and its colour, which is chiefly white ; and by its having no 

 nostrils, but in their place a long furrow that reaches almost to 

 the end of the bill. From the corner of the mouth is a nar 

 row slip of black bare skin, that extends to the hind part of the 

 head j beneath the skin is another that, like the pouch of the 

 pelican, is dilatable, and of size sufficient to contain five or six 

 entire herrings, which in the breeding season it carries at once 

 to its mate or its young. 



These birds, which subsist entirely upon fish, chiefly resort to 

 those uninhabited islands where their food is found in plenty, 

 and men seldom come to disturb them. The islands to the 

 north of Scotland, the Skelig islands off the coasts of Kerry in 

 Ireland, and those that lie in the north sea off Norway, abound 

 with them- But it is on the Bass island, in the Frith of Kdin- 

 burgli, where they are seen in the greatest abundance. " There 

 is a small island," says the celebrated Harvey, " called the Bass, 

 not more than a mile in circumference. The surface is almost 

 wholly covered during the months of May and June with their 

 nests, their eggs, and young. It is scarcely possible to walk 

 without treading on them : the flocks of birds upon the wing, 

 are so numerous, as to darken the air like a cloud ; and their 

 noise is such, that one cannot without diihculty be heard by the 

 person next to iiiui. When one looks douii upon the sea from 



