290 



OEDEES OF BIEDS— FULLY-WEBBED SWIMMEES 



spots they can find, there is no bird which man 

 cannot reach with a gun, no nest to which he 

 cannot climb, or be lowered at the end of a 

 rope. 



Sea-birds everywhere are persecuted by man, 

 either for their eggs or for themselves. In 

 their breeding-season the Gannets are con- 

 tinually visited by Indians and whites, who 

 take their eggs. "Scarce a day passes," says 

 Mr. Lucas, "without a visit from fishermen in 

 search of eggs, or murres. Many barrels of 

 eggs are gathered during the season, and alto- 

 gether the birds lead a rather precarious ex- 

 istence. There is a law regulating the taking 

 of eggs, and if this were observed, or could be 

 strictly enforced, a large number of eggs could 

 be gathered annually, while at the same time 

 the number of birds would steadily increase." 



As will be inferred, the Gannet lives wholly 

 upon fish, and is an expert deep-water diver. 

 In his report on his " Explorations in Newfound- 

 land and Labrador," Mr. Lucas gives the fol- 

 lowing interesting account: 



"While lying at Grindstone Island we first 

 tnade the acquaintance of the Gannets, whose 

 head-quarters are at Bird Rocks, and had a good 

 opportunity to watch them fishing. The birds 

 are usually associated in small, straggling 

 flocks, and with outstretched necks, and eyes 

 ever on the lookout for fish, they fly at a height 

 of from 75 to 100 feet above the water, or occa- 

 sionally somewhat more. The height at which 

 the Gannet flies above the water is proportioned 

 to the depth at which the fish are swimming 

 beneath, and Captain Collins tells me that when 

 fish are swimming near the surface, the Gannet 

 flies very low, and darts obliquely instead of 

 vertically upon its prey. 



"Should any finny game be seen within range, 

 down goes the Gannet headlong, the nearly 

 closed wings being used to guide the living arrow 

 in its downward flight. Just above the sur- 

 face, the wings are firmly closed, and a small 

 splash of spray shows where the winged fisher 

 cleaves the water to transfix his prey. Disap- 

 pearing for a few seconds, the bird reappears, 

 rests for a moment on the water, long enough 

 to swallow his catch, then rises in pursuit of 

 other game. The appetite of the Gannet is 

 limited only by the capacity of its stomach, 

 and a successful fisher may frequently be seen 



resting on the water, too heavily laden to rise 

 without disgorging a part of its cargo, which it 

 sometimes must do to escape from the pathway 

 of an approaching vessel." 



Any person who is accustomed to diving, 

 even from a very moderate height, knows well 

 the serious disturbance to vision caused by the 

 shock of impact with the water. That a Gan- 

 net — or any other bird — can fall from even a 

 height of twenty-five feet, saying nothing of a 

 hundred, take the water plunge, and retain its 

 gaze upon its prey sufficiently to follow and 

 capture it, surely betokens a special optical 

 provision which as yet we know nothing about, 



Photo, by R. J. Beck. Galapagos Islands. 



MAN-O'-WAR BIRDS. 



and which remains to be discovered and de- 

 scribed. 



Besides the species described above, there 

 are five other species of gannets, called Boobys, 

 with various prefixes, which touch the coasts 

 of the continent of North America. 



THE MAN-O'-WAR BIRD FAMILY. 



Frcgatidae. 



Whenever at sea in the tropics your attention 

 is arrested by the flight far aloft of a big, dark- 

 colored bird with long, sharp-pointed wings, 

 and a long tail that is deeply forked, know that 

 it is a Frigate-Bird, 1 or, as the sailors call it, 



1 Fre-ga'ta a'quil-a. Length, about 40 inches. 



