Birds of Britain 



THE GANNET 



Sula bassana (Linnaeus) 



The Gannet is a local species, nesting in enormous numbers 

 on certain rocks which have formed their home for centuries. 

 These colonies are pretty well distributed round our coasts, 

 especially in Scotland and Ireland, but in England, the Farn 

 Islands on the east, and Grassholm in Wales, are their only 

 strongholds, a former colony on Lundy Island being nearly, 

 if not quite, exterminated. The Bass Eock, one of the largest 

 and best known of these colonies, is, in summer, a sight never 

 to he forgotten ; the whole of the face of the cliff appearing 

 entirely white, from the closely packed sitting birds, who at 

 this season are very tame and allow themselves to be stroked 

 while incubating. 



The nest is a loose accumulation of seaweed and other 

 materials picked up along the shore. A single egg only is 

 laid, which, except in size, resembles that of the Cormorant. 

 The young when first hatched are black and naked, but soon 

 assume a thick covering of white down ; they remain in the 

 nest a long time, not leaving it until they are fully fledged. 



A party of Gannets fishing is a beautiful sight ; they are 

 not divers like the Cormorant but feed on surface-swimming 

 fish, and in winter often follow the shoals of herring and 

 mackerel. Having marked his fish from high up in the 

 air, the Gannet folds his wings and drops on it perpen- 

 dicularly, striking the water with great force. When not 

 at its breeding haunts it keeps more out at sea than its 



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