2970 Tue ZooLocist—Marcu, 1872. 
your head in all the richness of its 'summer’s plumage, should 
curiosity induce you to approach its abode. We recollect that 
one day during a sail round the Bass Rock the gannets flew around 
and over us in such multitudes that the thought{struck us how 
easily the birds might have swamped our boat had they settled 
upon it. We cannot resist presenting our readers with two 
amusing extracts from what Mr. Gray has written about the 
gannet. In former days the gannets which nested upon the top of 
the Bass were so tame 
“ As to allow a person to walk among them and lift and examine both 
young birds and eggs without much remonstrance, a sight which well repaid 
the trouble of along journey. In 1859, before they finally quitted the 
spot,* I visited the rock, and found their habits considerably changed. The 
old birds were dreadfully vociferous, and in some cases showed fight. 
Professor Macgillivray well described their cry in comparing the torrent of 
crackling sounds to the words varroch, varroch, kirra, kirra, cree, cree, krak, 
krak—an address which they utter with great rapidity; but ultimately, 
finding that it makes no impression, they change it to a loud call for grog. 
While standing surrounded by an excited multitude of open bills I noticed 
my guide, one of the Cantabay boatmen, apparently absorbed in thought, 
‘Ts there any risk of them biting?’ I ventured to inquire. ‘Oh, no, sir!’ 
he rejoined, ‘I was only thinking how like they are to owrsels.’” 
Our other extract on the subject of the gannet is connected with 
its character as a pet. 
“TJ have at various times had solan geese in my keeping as pets, but 
I am sorry I cannot say much in their favour. The last lot I had—about 
half a dozen—behaved very badly. They kept up an incessant clamour for 
fish, quantities of which they ravenously, and I may say thanklessly, 
devoured ; for I no sooner presented myself within the enclosure where they 
were confined than I was furiously met by the whole gang, launching their 
wedge-shaped bills wherever they could effectively strike a blow, and uttering 
all the while the most discordant cries it was possible for birds to give vent 
to. With such experience, it would be folly to recommend the gannet as a 
proper subject for the aviary: it does not requite one for his trouble; and, 
besides, it is not the most gentle occupation of a morning to be visiting one’s 
pets armed with a*cudgel.” 
* Not the rock itself, but the grassy slopes upon its summit, where the birds 
used to nest freely until they were so much disturbed and persecuted by visitors as 
to be driven to confine themselves to the precipitous ledges of the cliffs. 
EE a 
