69 



in the neighbourhood of so many naturalists and or» 

 nithoiogists as Edinburgh contains : the flesh was 

 eaten, and found to be entirely destitute of that rancid 

 smell and taste that aftect the generaHty of the cor- 

 morant tribe. I have observed, what appeared to me 

 to be the same species, on Lambay Island, on the 

 east coast of Ireland. 



Gannets, or Sola.id Geese (Pellicanus Bassanus). 



This beautiful species of Pelican is diffused over 

 most parts of the ocean, but seldom approaches th^ 

 land except at the breeding season ; it received its 

 trivial name from its frequenting, in immense quan- 

 tities, the Bass Island, in the Frith of Forth, on the 

 east coast of Scotland. In the spring of 1807, 

 I visited this celebrated rock (once the state prison of 

 Scotland), accompanied by Arthur Strickland, Esq. 

 of York, for the purpose of procuring specimens of 

 the various water-fowl that annually resort to it at 

 that season of the year for security, during the im- 

 portant business of rearing their young. 



We arrived under the towering and tremendous 

 projecting cliffs of the east end, just before sunrise, 

 and approached as silent as possible. At a little 

 distance, the precipice appeared as if composed of 

 chalk ; but on a nearer approach, we discovered that 

 this effect was produced by the excrement, as well as 

 by the white plumage of the innumerable water-fowl 

 that covered the cliffs. The whole of the various 

 families were just awake, and preparing, by shaking 

 their feathers and pluming their wings, for the busy 

 occupation of the coming day. After attentively 

 observing them for some time, on a given signal we 

 fired our guns, and the boatmen shouted altogether, 

 when such a scene took place as I had never wit- 

 nessed : in an instant our ears were assailed and 



