THE GANNET. 523 



like an immense living torrent, the stentorious volume of 

 their hoarse croaks and screams becoming almost terrific, 

 mingling weirdly with the sound of the waters. No 

 bird is more gregarious than the Gannet, hence this im- 

 mense concentration of numbers at their principal breeding 

 grounds. The bulky nests, of sea-weeds and rubbish gath- 

 ered from the sea, are placed along the shelvings and tops 

 of the rocks at regular distances and sometimes in peculiar 

 order. Audubon likened them to rows of corn, and the 

 fishermen say they are built like a town. Mr. Maynard 

 thinks these regular distances are determined by the 

 quarrelsome disposition of the Gannets, keeping the im- 

 mense numbers simply beyond fighting distance. In this 

 degree of proximity, they sometimes cover large spaces of 

 ground, so that one writer speaks of seeing a quarter of an 

 acre of Gannets on their nests. 



The ordinarily single egg, about 3.15X2.00, oval, plain 

 greenish-blue, and encrusted with a lime deposit, appears 

 to be incubated by both sexes, they being, however, indis- 

 tinguishable in color. They are not easily driven from the 

 nest, and on being disturbed will disgorge their undigested 

 food. The young are said to take with their pointed-like 

 bills the partially digested food from the open throats of the 

 parents. 



Diving fiercely at other birds which may come in their 

 way, the Gannets, also, fight furiously among themselves, 

 will clasp each other by the bill, and roll down the heights 

 into the sea, all unconscious of everything around them. 



Gannet Rock, near Yarmouth, and another Gannet Rock, 

 near Grand Menan, are the most southern breeding resorts 

 known; while Bird Rock, near the Magdalen Islands, and 

 the Island of Bonaventure, near Gaspe, are the principal 

 breeding grounds in the north. In winter the birds are 



