184 



Gannet but rarely enters the Mediterranean. It has been said to have been seen near Marseilles ; 

 but Jaubert doubts this statement. Oddly enough, Messrs. Danford and Harvie-Brown remark 

 (Ibis, 1875, p. 431), "Bieltz mentions that this bird was once observed during winter in Tran- 

 sylvania." 



It does not appear to range far down the coast of West Africa. Favier merely says {fide 

 Colonel Irby) that it arrives off the coast of Morocco in October, and leaves during March, not 

 being very numerous ; but Dr. Carl Bolle records its occurrence now and again off the coasts of 

 the Canaries. In South Africa it is replaced by Sulci melanura, Temm. (Sula ca/pensis, Licht.), 

 which differs chiefly in having the tail black in the adult plumage. 



The Gannet does not appear to visit Asia — unless perhaps in the extreme north-west, as it 

 is said to occur off Novaya Zemlya ; but it is found in North America, where it is said to breed 

 in almost incredible numbers on the Gannet Rock, the North Bird Rock, and the Perce Rock 

 near Gaspe, and the Gannet Rock near Mingan, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; and in the winter 

 season it wanders as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. I have occasionally seen it in the Bay of 

 Fundy, where, Mr. Boardman informed me, it is resident, and common on the fishing-grounds. 

 A few breed on the Gannet Rock near Grand Menan. 



Having had but meagre opportunities of observing the habits of this interesting bird, I 

 cannot do better than transcribe the excellent remarks published by Dr. R. O. Cunningham 

 (Ibis, 1866, pp. 15-20) respecting its habits and nidification as observed by him on the Bass 

 Rock: — "The form and appearance of this celebrated island have been so often and so elabo- 

 rately described, that a very few words will suffice to say all that is necessary on the subject. 

 It is about two miles distant from the southern shore of the Firth of Forth, and three from 

 the venerable town of North Berwick, rises to the height of 420 feet above the level of the 

 sea, and is formed of a huge mass of trap of a character intermediate between greenstone and 

 clinkstone. Its sides rise bold and perpendicular ; and on the east and west may be seen the 

 opposite openings of a cavern 30 feet high and 170 feet long, which owes its existence to the 

 hollowing agency of the sea. Its ' sloping acclivity,' to employ the words of the late Hugh 

 Miller, ' consists of three great steps or terraces, with steep belts of precipice rising between ;' of 

 these ' the lowest is occupied by the fortress, and furnishes, where it sinks slopingly towards the 

 sea on the south-east, the two landing-places of the island.' The middle, situated exactly over 

 the cave, has furnished the site of the ancient chapel of the island, while the upper and largest 

 was once occupied by the garden. The principal birds that breed on the Bass are the Solan 

 Goose, the Foolish Guillemot (TJria troile), the Kittiwake (Larus rissa), the Cormorant {Phala- 

 crocorax carlo), the Shag {Phalacrocorax graculus), the Razorbill {Alca torcla), the Herring-Gull 

 {Larus argemtatus), the Common Gull {Larus canus), the Great Black-backed Gull {Larus 

 marinus), and the Puffin [Fratercula arctica). The Black Guillemot [TJria grylle) is mentioned 

 by Ray, but has not, I believe, been seen by subsequent observers ; and the Peregrine Falcon 

 {Falco peregrinus) and Eider Duck {Somateria mollissima), which used to build on the island, 

 have for some time disappeared. 



" The Solan Geese are met with in great numbers on all the several faces of the rock ; and 

 one or two colonies occur near the landing-places. Macgillivray estimates the number which he 

 saw on the occasion of a visit to the island in 1831 at about twenty thousand; and, judging from 



