COMMON GANNET. 225 
I was well pleased with this plain statement of our pilot, as I had 
with my glass observed the regularity of the lines of nests, and seen 
many of the birds digging the earth with their strong bills, while hun- 
dreds of them were carrying quantities of that long sea-weed called 
Kel-grass, which they seem to bring from towards the Magdalene 
Islands. While the Ripley lay to near the rock, thousands of the Gan- 
nets constantly flew over our heads; and although I shot at and brought 
several to the water, neither the reports nor the sight of their dead 
companions seemed to make any impression on them. 
On weighing several of the Gannets brought on board, I found them 
to average rather more than seven pounds ; but Mr Gopwin assured me 
that when the young birds are almost ready to fly, they weigh eight 
.and sometimes nine pounds. This I afterwards ascertained to be 
true, and I account for the difference exhibited at this period by the 
young birds, by the great profusion of food with which their parents 
supply them, regardless in a great measure of their own wants. The 
Pilot further told me that the stench on the summit of the rock was 
insupportable, covered as it is during the breeding season, and after 
the first visits of the fishermen, with the remains of carcasses of old and 
young birds, broken and rotten eggs, excrements, and multitudes of 
fishes. He added that the Gannets, although cowardly birds, at times 
stand and await the approach of a man, with open bill, and strike furious 
and dangerous blows. Let me now, Reader, assure you that unless 
you had seen the sight witnessed by my party and myself that day, you 
could not form a correct idea of the impression it has to this moment 
left on my mind. 
The extent of the southward migration of the Gannet, after it has 
reared its young, is far greater perhaps than has hitherto been supposed. 
I have frequently seen it on the Guif of Mexico, in the latter part of 
autumn and in winter; and a few were met with, in the course of my 
last expedition, as far as the entrance of the Sabine River into the Bay 
of Mexico. Being entirely a maritime species, it never proceeds in- 
land, unless forced by violent gales, which have produced a few such 
instances in Nova Scotia and the State of Maine, as well as the Fiori- 
das, where I saw one that had been found dead in the woods two days 
after a furious hurricane. The greater number of the birds of this spe- 
cies seen in these warm latitudes during winter are young of that or 
the preceding year. My friend Jorn Bacuman has informed me that 
VOL. Iv. Pp 
