BRITISH BIRDS. 371 



ft)c (|>annef. 



THIS genus, of which there is only one British 

 species, is essentially different from the Cormor- 

 ant. The great length of the wings, in proportion 

 to the tail ; the striking difference in the shape 

 of the bill ; the impossibility of diving, except 

 for a moment, and that from the wing, and never 

 from the water, appear to indicate a sufficient 

 difference to authorise a new genus. The base of 

 the bill is dentated and jointed, which admits 

 considerable motion of the upper mandible. 



The Gannet is migratory: large flocks of this 

 species arrive in the spring of the year, and dis- 

 perse themselves in colonies over the rocky pro- 

 montories of Scotland and its isles, in various 

 parts of which they breed and rear their young; 

 and as soon as that office is performed, they re- 

 tire in the autumn to their unknown abodes. Their 

 return each season points out also that of the shoals 

 of the herring, which they hover over, pursue, and 

 chiefly feed upon. These shoals, at that season 

 of increasing warmth, are poured forth on their 

 southern route, gliding forward in wide glittering 

 columns of myriads upon myriads, from the un- 

 known but prolific regions of the north. These 

 prodigious shoals, with their divisions and sub- 

 divisions, in their branched course around the 

 British Isles, are attended by the Gannet. On 

 our southern coasts the Pilchard affords these 

 birds another supply of food, in pursuit of which 

 they are enticed as far southward as the Mediter- 

 ranean sea. 



