Gannet. 523 



for their down, feathers and flesh, when several thousands are 

 ruthlessly slain.* 



The adult is of a yellowish- white colour with black tips to the 

 wings ; but the immature, known also as the ' Spotted Booby,' and 

 in France as Le Fou tackete, is of a clove brown, spotted with pure 

 white, as if a snow shower had fallen upon it ; and as it takes 

 four years in arriving at maturity, it was for a long time con- 

 sidered a distinct species. Why this bird is called by us ' Booby' 

 and by the French Fou, and by the Germans Tolpel, is simply 

 because, being of a confiding nature, and unsuspicious of harm, it 

 suffers itself to be approached by its enemies without taking 

 alarm, and to be attacked without resistance. The authors of 

 the B.O.U. list of British Birds derive sula from the Norse sule, 

 1 an awkward fellow/ or ' a dolt ;' but it is to be observed that 

 sule is an old Norwegian word also signifying 'Swallow'; and 

 Hafs-Sula or Hav-Sule, by which it is commonly known in 

 Scandinavia, means ' Sea-Swallow,' a term which may well be 

 applied to it from its rapid and continuous flight. Sometimes it 

 is known in those waters as Sill-Bos t ' Herring Persecutor/ since 

 it persistently follows the shoals of that fish. The specific name, 

 bassana, is derived from the Bass Hock in the Firth of Forth, 

 because at one time it was supposed to breed nowhere else, and 

 it has pretty well monopolized that isolated rock, and converted 

 it into an extensive nursery. In Germany it is Der Bassanische 

 Pelikan ; in Portugal it is Patola, ' Fool.' Yery commonly in 

 the South of England it is called the 'Solan/ 'Solent/f or 

 'Channel Goose;' but, indeed, the word 'Gannet' is no other 

 than ' Little Goose/ the first syllable occurring in our word 

 Gander, and in the German Gans, to which is added the 

 diminutive suffix et. Young birds are sometimes called ' Black 

 Gannets.' Four times within my knowledge has this species 

 occurred in Wiltshire of late years ; once (as I learned from Mr. 

 Marsh) a specimen was taken on the borders of the county 



* Ibis for 1869, pp. 23, 24, 30. 



t In a very able monograph on this species by Dr. Cunningham in the Ibis 

 for 1866, pp. 1-23, it is suggested that the ' Solent' more probably takes its 

 name from this bird, and not the bird from the channel. 



