Cuass Il. GANNETT CORVORANT. 
latter, will serve to give some idea of the num- 
bers of these, and of the other birds that an- 
nually migrate to that little spot. 
£6 
(<4 
“ There is a small island, called by the 
Scotch, Bass Island, not more than a mile 
in circumference ; the surface is almost wholly 
covered during the months of May and June 
with nests, eggs, and young birds ; so that it 
is scarcely possible to walk without treading 
on them: and the flocks of birds in flight are 
so prodigious, as to darken the air like clouds ; 
and their noise is such, that you cannot, 
without difficulty, hear your next neighbor's 
woice. If you look down upon the sea, from 
the top of the precipice, you will see it 
on every side covered with infinite numbers of 
birds of different kinds, swimning and hunt- 
ing for prey: if in sailing round the island 
you survey the hanging cliffs, you may see 
in every cragg or fissure of the broken rocks, 
innumerable birds of various sorts and sizes, 
more than the stars of heaven when viewed 
in a serene night: if from afar you see 
the distant flocks, either flying to or from 
the island, you would imagine a to be a 
vast swarm of bees.”* 
-* Est insula parva, Scoti Basse nominant, haud amplius 
mille passuum cireuitu amplitude ejus clauditur. Hujus insrile 
VOL. II. : U 
289 
