256 PlWvECANIDyE. 



quently been shot near the quays of the town in severe winter 

 weather.* 



Two sporting friends^, when crossing from Portpatrick to Don- 

 aghadee, at the end of November 184.4^ remarked groups of two 

 or three old gannets fishing together as in summer. 



Both adult and young birds are sometimes seen and captui-ed 

 inland. A friend observed one in full plumage in the spring of 

 1835, about a mile from Belfast and a similar distance from the 

 sea, flying directly inland; about the middle of October 1837, a 

 young bird of the year was captured in a brick-field on the 

 western side of the town : this bird was purchased by a friend, 

 with whom it lived for a considerable time, as I have known them 

 do in many instances. The following notes inform us of the 

 occasional appearance of the species considerably inland. A 

 young bird of the year was taken asleep at seven o'clock in the 

 morning of the 18th of October, 1838, under a stook of corn, 

 at New Perry, near Portglenone, and within forty or fifty perches 

 of the river Bann. It was brought to Belfast alive for sale, 

 under the impression of being an extraordinary rarity, no bird of 

 the kind having ever before been seen in that part of the country. 

 Such was the information derived from its captors by Mr. R. 

 Patterson. The locality is above thirty English miles from the 

 sea. On the 30th of August, 1811, an adult female was taken 

 alive by the gamekeeper, after some resistance, in a wood at 

 Gurteen, about four miles from Clonmel, and far distant from 

 any water, either fresh or salt. It lived for a few days, but 

 was much emaciated, and weighed only 3 lbs. 13oz.t About the 

 month of Pebruary 1844, an immature bird was taken near 

 Clonmel. J 



With respect to plumage, which the gannet is considered not 

 to attain in a perfect state until the fourth year (Selby), it is 



* At the end of November 1849, a young bird of the year, which came imder my 

 notice in Dublin, was shot on the coast there. 



t Mr. R. Davis, jun., and ' Tipperary Pree Press,' September 11, 1841. Audubon, 

 weighing several adult gannets, found them to average above 7 lbs. 



t Ibid. 



