SIXTEENTH CENTURY 99 
That “ Margot,” of which “ Margaulx” is intended for 
the plural, meant Gannet is clear; indeed, it is a 
French fisherman’s name for that species applied to this day 
in the English Channel and Pas-de-Calais. Equivalent to 
Sea-fisher, from “ mer,” the sea, it was capable of having 
two meanings, for Cartier’s sailors may not have been un- 
mindful of a black-and-white bird at home, the Magpie, 
commonly called ‘‘ Margot” in France. 
Here it may be observed that there are five Norman 
names for the Solan Goose, which are Marga, Boubie, 
Harenguier, Margast and Sagan,* and of these Marga is the 
commonest.f Margat is the Picard spelling.t Harenguier 
means the herring-fisher, while Sagan is synonymous with 
the Gaelic Sgadan, and also stands for herring. 
John Major and Hector Boece.—As we are partly 
treating in this chapter of the Solan Goose, it may be proper 
to quote some account of its celebrated Scotch home, the 
Bass Rock, which lies off the coast of Haddington. The 
first description of the Bass Rock Gannets is discoverable 
in the ‘De Gestis Scotorum,” written by John Major (or 
Mair) in 1518, and printed in 1521 at Paris as “ Historia 
majoris Britannie.’”’ Major was born at Glegharnie, rather 
less than four miles from the Bass, which explains the 
commencement of his narrative and his familiarity with the 
birds upon it. 
Translation from the “ De Gestis.” 
“In Lent and in summer, at the winter and the summer 
solstice, people go in early morning from my own Gleghornie 
and the neighbouring parts to the shore, drag out the poly- 
pods [lobsters] and crabs with hooks, and return at noon 
with well-filled sacks. 
* * * * * 
“Near to Gleghornie, in the Ocean, at a distance of two 
leagues, is the Bass Rock, wherein is an impregnable stronghold. 
Round about it is seen a marvellous multitude of great ducks 
(which they call Sollends) that live on fish. These fowl are not 
* « Faune de la Normandie, p. 399.” 
+ “Bull. de la Soc. Nat. d’Accl.,’”’ 1915, p. 291. 
t “Rev. Fr. d’Orn.’’ IL, p. 120. 
