The GArsiNET, it 



first ! It would be hardly possible for an oniilliologist to have a finer boating 

 excursion, at least in Great Britain, than that round H03' head in the breeding 

 season." 



Family— S ULID^. 



The Gannet. 



Siila bassana, LlNN. 



THE Solan Goose, as the Gannet is very often named, is one of the most splendid 

 members of the British avl-faiuia. It is a large, heavy, goose-like, marine 

 bird, with a long conical bill, and long and pointed wings. When fully adult, its 

 plumage, in both sexes, is pure white, tinged with buif on the head and neck, with 

 the outer edge of the wing and its primary'- quills and their coverts black ; the 

 nude skin of the throat, and round the e3'e, dark blue ; the iris ^-ellowish 

 white ; the frontal shield bright green ; the bill horn colour, -\\-ith dark blue lines ; 

 and the legs and feet black. 



The Gannet is not a common bird ; its habitats and breeding places are 

 few, far apart, and difficult of access. In South Britain, these are Lund}- Island, 

 off the coast of Devon ; and Grassholm, off the coast of Pembrokeshire. In former 

 times the Fame Islands, on the Northumberland coast, were a constant resort ; for 

 we find it recorded that Sir Thomas Swinburne, High Sheriff of Northumberland, 

 eave ten shilling's to his " cosen William Read's man's man for sea fowle (Eider 

 Ducks and Solan Geese) out of the Ffame Yland," during the assize week, in the 

 3rear 1628. In North Britain its homes are Ailsa Craig, at the entrance to the 

 Firth of Cl3'de ; the Bass Rock, in the Firth of Forth ; North Barra, other«-ise 

 known as the Stack of Salis Kerr}-, thirty-five miles north of the Butt of Lewis ; 

 and the Stack, some forty miles west of Stromness. They are occasionally to be 



