132 THE BRITISH NATURE BOOK 



Gannet (SOLAN GOOSE). This bird's pointed beak distinguishes it from the 

 Cormorant, which has a hooked beak. Otherwise it is recognized at once by 

 its colour : all white except the wing quills, which are dark brown ; but the 

 head and neck are yellow-buff during the breeding season, against which the 

 eye rim and beak make a striking contrast, being a clear slate-blue in colour. 

 The bird is found all the year round in our waters, and breeds in large colonies 

 on precipitous islands, chiefly off Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The nests 

 are built on cliff ledges, of seaweed, grass, and odds and ends of material. 

 Only one egg is laid (larger than a Cormorant's), blue, covered with a chalky 

 incrustation, which soon becomes stained. 



The bird feeds on fish. The courting cry, heard on the cliff ledges, is 

 " Urrah-urrah " ; but there is also a long-drawn wail " Yee-orrr " when 

 taking to flight. A very unique point observed in the incubation period is 

 that the Gannet covers the egg with her foot, placing first the web of one foot 

 and then the other over the egg, and then lowering the body into the sitting 

 position. 



The bird is a most expert diver, dropping from a height into water after 

 a fish, which it never fails to secure ; and it loves also to sail through the air 

 with outspread wings (nearly 6 feet from tip to tip), almost without a movement. 



Goosander. This bird, together with the Merganser and Smew, form 

 a sub-family "Saw-billed Ducks," from the serrated edges of their man- 

 dibles. (The SMEW is a winter visitor, in rare numbers, commonest on our 

 Eastern seaboard.) They all possess straight, slender, hooked bills. The 

 Goosander drake is a handsome bird in breeding plumage : black-green head ; 

 blackish mandible ; rest chiefly white ; red beak and legs. The duck has 

 chestnut-red head ; upper parts chiefly grey ; lower parts whitish. 



The nest is in a hollow tree, or a hole in a bank, or among rocks, generally 

 on an islet or close to a river, and contains seven to twelve creamy eggs. 

 See also notes on MERGANSER. 



Goose, Barnacle. Only a winter visitor; has a white face and throat; 

 glossy black head, back, and breast ; grey to white under parts. Chiefly 

 found on the West Coast, especially on the Solway. 



Goose, Brent, not unlike the preceding, except that it is smaller, and has 

 no white on the face, and only a very small patch on the neck. It is a winter 

 visitor, chiefly to our eastern coasts (exactly the reverse of the Barnacle 

 Goose), often in large numbers. 



Goose, Greylag. This bird only breeds in the North of Scotland, but is rather 

 more abundant as a winter visitor ; uncommon on most parts of our coasts. 

 Upper parts light greyish brown ; under parts lighter ; belly white ; differing 

 from the other rarer geese (BEAN GOOSE, PINK-FOOTED GOOSE) by the white 

 tip on the bill, and from the WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE by the absence of the 

 prominent white patch on the face which the latter possesses. 



The nest is often amidst deep heather, or on an island : a slight depression, 

 scantily lined though sometimes a more bulky structure is made. The eggs 



