46 COMMON GANNET. 



their cod-fish hooks, ascend armed with heavy short clubs, in parties of 

 eight, ten, or more, and at once begin their work of destruction. At sight 

 of these unwelcome intruders, the affrighted birds rise on wing with a noise 

 like thunder, and fly off in such a hurried and confused manner as to impede 

 each other's progress, by which thousands are forced downwards, and accu- 

 mulate into a bank many feet high; the men beating and killing them with 

 their clubs until fatigued, or satisfied with the number they have slain." 

 Here Mr. Godwin assured us that he had visited the Gannet Rock ten sea- 

 sons in succession, for the purpose just mentioned, and added, that on one of 

 these occasions, "six men had destroyed five hundred and forty Gannets in 

 about an hour, after which the party rested awhile, and until most of the 

 living birds had left their immediate neighbourhood, for all around them, 

 beyond the distance of about a hundred yards, thousands of Gannets were 

 yet sitting on their nests, and the air was filled with multitudes of others. 

 The dead birds are now roughly skinned, and the flesh of the breast cut up 

 in pieces of different sizes, which will keep good for bait about a fortnight or 

 three weeks. So great is the destruction of these birds for the purpose men- 

 tioned, that the quantity of their flesh so procured supplies with bait upwards 

 of forty boats, which lie fishing close to the Island of Brion each season. By 

 the 20th of May the rock is covered with birds on their nests and eggs, and 

 about a month afterwards the young are hatched. The earth is scratched by 

 the birds for a few inches deep, and the edges surrounded by sea-weeds and 

 other rubbish, to the height of eight or ten inches, tolerably well matted 

 together. Each female Gannet lays a single egg, which is pure white, but 

 not larger than a good-sized hen's egg. When the young are hatched, they 

 are bluish-black, and for a fortnight or more their skin is not unlike that of 

 the common dog-fish. They gradually become downy and white, and when 

 five or six weeks old look like great lumps of carded wool." 



I was well pleased with this plain statement of our pilot, as I had with 

 my glass observed the regularity of the lines of nests, and seen many of the 

 birds digging the earth with their strong bills, while hundreds of them were 

 carrying quantities of that long sea-weed called eel-grass, which they seem 

 to bring from towards the Magdalene Islands. While the Ripley lay to 

 near the rock, thousands of the Gannets constantly flew over our heads; and 

 although I shot at and brought several to the water, neither the reports nor 

 the sight of their dead companions seemed to make any impression on them. 



On weighing several of the Gannets brought on board, I found them to 

 average rather more than seven pounds; but Mr. Godwin assured me that 

 when the young birds are almost ready to fly, they weigh eight and some- 

 times nine pounds. This I afterwards ascertained to be true, and I account 

 for the difference exhibited at this period by the young birds, by the great 



