454 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



fish, with the result that it is killed instantly 

 by the shock of the contact. 



Gannets breed in colonies of thousands on 

 the islands off the east and west coasts of Scotland. 

 They lay but a single egg, in a nest composed 

 of seaweed deposited in inaccessible crags of pre- 

 cipitous cliffs. The young are at first naked; 

 later they become clothed with long white down. 

 " Atone time," says Mr. Howard Saunders, "young 

 gannets were much esteemed as food, from 1,500 

 to 2,000 being taken in a season during the month 

 of August. They are hooked up, killed, and flung 

 into the sea, where a boat is waiting to pick 

 up the bodies. Ihesc are plucked, cleaned, and 

 half roasted, after which they are sold at from 



YOUNG GANNETS, FIRST YEAR 



The plumage at thh stage is ■very dark broivn^ eaeh feather 

 being tipped -zvith ivhite 



eightpence to a shilling each. . . . The fat is 

 boiled down into oil, and the feathers, after being 

 well baked, are used for stuffing beds, about a 

 hundred birds producing a stone of feathers." 



Gannets present one or two structural pecu- 

 liarities of sufficient interest to mention here. 

 In most birds, it will be remembered, the nostrils 

 open on each side of the beak ; but in the gannet 

 no trace of true nostrils remains; and the same 

 ma\' almo.--,t be said of tlv; cormorant and darter. 



GANNEI-, FULL PLUMACJE 



The fully adult plumage is net attained till the bird is three 

 years old 



Fhtta l,y ti hulasli fhalo Lo ] \_P irsm s ijxttn 



GANNET, SECOND YEAR 



The ivhite plumage oj the neek is just beginning to appear 



In gannets, however, a slight indication of their 

 sometime existence remains, though the nostril 

 itself no longer serves as an air-passage; and 

 these birds are compelled to breathe through the 

 mouth. Again, the tongue, like the nostrils, 

 has also been reduced to a mere vestige. 

 Stranger still is the fact that immediately under 

 the skin there lies an extensive system of air- 

 cells of large size, which can be inflated or 

 emptied at will. Mau>' of these cells dip down 

 between the muscles of the body, so that the 

 whole organism is per\-aded with air-cells, all of 

 which are in connection with the lungs. 



The h'Ric.VTE- and Ti-KJi'ic-BiROS, which now 

 remain to be described, arc probably much less 

 familiar to our readers than the foregoing species. 



