156 



THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



it wheels rapidly, and darts to the surface of the water in pursuit 

 of prey ; and then again it soars so as to be lost to vision, its ele- 

 vation alone being sufficient to distinguish it from all other sea 

 birds. Sometimes it is seen 400 leagues from land ; and yet it is 

 said to return every night to its solitary roost. Its expanded 

 pinions measure from end to end fourteen feet, a prodigious extent 

 of wings, equalling or even surpassing that of the condor, the 

 lordly bird of the loftiest Andes. Being unable to swim or dive, 

 it seizes the flying-fish, that, springing out of the water to avoid 



Flying Fish. 



the jaws of the bonito, often falls a prey to the frigate-bird, or 

 else it compels boobies or tropic birds to disgorge. On volcanic 

 coasts it builds its nest in the crevices of the high cliffs, and on 

 the low coral islands in the loftiest trees. In the Paumotu Group, 

 Captain Wilkes saw whole groves covered with the nests of the 

 frigate-bird. When the old birds flew away, they puffed up 

 their red pouches to the size of a child's head, so that it looked 

 as if a large bladder full of blood was attached to their neck. 



The Grannet or Soland-goose (JSula Bassana) haunts the Bass 

 Island, a high steep rock in the Frith of Forth, whose black 



precipices are painted with dazzling 

 stripes of white guano, the product 

 of the inconceivable number of birds 

 which settle upon the weather-beaten 

 ledges. The gannets incubate in the 

 turf of the slopes above, and you may 

 sit down by them and their great 

 downy young while their mates hover 

 over you with discordant screams and 

 almost touch you with their outspread pinions. There is but one 

 landing-place, and this sole entrance to the natural fastness is 

 closed by a barred gate, proclaiming that man has taken pos- 

 session of the rock. Some years ago it was let at an annual rest 



Common Gannet. 



