SoLAN GANNET. NATATORES. SULA. 457 
of the island. From the accounts I have received from the 
resident there, it appears that the Gannet is a very long-lived 
bird, as he has recognised, from particular and well-known 
marks, certain individuals for upwards of forty years, that 
ivariably returned to the same spot to breed. He also con- 
firmed to me the time required for this bird to attain matu- 
rity, viz. four years; and pointed out several in the different 
garbs they assume during that period, stating also, that un- 
til fully matured, they have never been known to breed. 
During incubation, in consequence of being unmolested, they 
become very tame; and, where the nests are easily accessi- 
ble upon the flat surface of the rock on the south-west side of 
the island, will allow themselves to be stroked by the hand 
without resistance, or any shew even of impatience, except 
the low guttural cry of grog, grog. Upon the other breed- 
ing stations above mentioned, the produce of the Gannet is 
equally prized, and immense numbers, both of the eggs and 
young, are annually taken, and preserved by the inhabitants 
for winter’s consumption. From the great development of 
the wings, and the peculiar apparatus of air-cells distributed 
over different parts of the body *, the flight of this bird is 
powerful and buoyant, and can be supported for any length 
of time. When in search of prey, it soars usually at a con- 
siderable elevation, as it thus obtains a sufficient impetus in 
its fall to reach the fish beneath the surface; at other times, 
when making its way to any distant point, or in dark and 
stormy weather, it flies comparatively low.—Its food consists 
almost entirely of the different species of herring, which it 
always takes by plunging vertically upon them as they rise 
within a certain distance of the top of the water. The force 
* For a detailed and interesting account of the anatomical structure of 
this bird, I must (on account of its length) refer my readers to Monracu’s 
Supplement to his Ornithological Dictionary, under the article “ Gannet ;” 
or to a paper in the first volume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Natu- 
ral History Society, p. 176, entitled “ Observations on some Peculiarities 
observable in the Structure of the Gannet,” &c. 
Food. 
