GANNET. RUPPELL'S TERN. 239 



the appearance of a flock all busily engaged must be a pleas- 

 ing spectacle, as a correspondent writing from Cork (who 

 had visited the Skelligs, and from whom we received eight of 

 the eggs) described, having observed nearly forty or fifty 

 gannets employed fishing within some distance of the island, 

 the sea presenting a curious appearance from the constant 

 spirting up of the foam occasioned by their immersion into it ; 

 the fish lying very low, the gannets necessarily had to strike 

 from an increased altitude. Only on one occasion, when boat- 

 ing off the islands of Skerries on the Dublin coast, we had 

 the pleasure of making a close examination of a gannet, a 

 magnificent-looking specimen. Possibly attracted by the mac- 

 kerel which the boatmen were " striking" in great numbers, 

 it swept over the boat so steadily upon the wing, that it ap- 

 peared as if pushed forward by some unseen power, and so 

 close, that the downward glance of the eye was plainly dis- 

 cerned. A mackerel flung out by the boatmen attracted no 

 attention. 



Gannets are often obtained about the Scotch islets by float- 

 ing a herring fastened to a board, at which the gannet stoops 

 with such force in its downward descent, that the neck is 

 dislocated. Possessing the greatest sharpness of sight, we 

 are informed by Martin that its other name of solan is derived 

 from an Irish word signifying quickness of sight. 



Habitat Europe. 



FAMILY XL. STERNID.E (TERNS). 



GENUS CX STERNA (TERN). 



SPECIES 229 RUPPELL'S TERX. 



Sterna velox. Rupp. 

 Hirondelle de mer veloce. Temm. 



THIS fine species, reminding us by its large size of some of 

 the smaller gulls, is the rarest of the Sternida* in its occurrence 

 in Great Britain, never having been obtained in England or 

 Scotland, and extremely limited in its European distribution. 

 On the authority of L. Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, when 

 commenting upon Mr. Thompson's paper, relative to the 

 present occurrence of this species, before the Ipswich Meeting 

 of the British Association, it is mentioned as a bird of the 



