Ciass Il. GANNET CORVORANT. 
wall, he never had an opportunity of seeing 
that bird, except flying; and in the air, it has 
the appearance of a gull. On that supposition 
he gave our Skua, p. 174. the title of Cataracta, 
a name borrowed from Aristotle,* and which ad- 
mirably expresses the rapid descent of this bird 
on its prey. Mr. Adoyle first detected this 
mistake ;f and the Rev. Doctor Wiliam Bor- 
_lase, by presenting us with a fine specimen of 
this bird, confirms the opinion of Mr. Moyle ; 
at the same time he favored us with so accu- 
rate an account of some part of the natural 
history of this bird, that we shall use the liberty 
he indulged us with, of adding it to this de- 
scription. 
“« The Gannet comes.on the coasts of Corn- 
wall in the latter end of summer, or begin- 
ning of autumn; hovering over the shoals of 
pilchards that come down to us through S¢. 
George's Channel from the northern. seas. 
The Gannet seldom comes near the land, but 
is constant to its prey, a sure sign to the 
fishermen that the pilchards are on the coasts ; 
and when the pilchards retire, generally about 
the end of November, the Gannets are seen 
nomore. The bird now sent was killed at 
* Page 1045. + Moyle’s Works, i. 424. 
293 
