324 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Peculiar habits. 



come so confident as to alight and feed their 

 young ones unconcerned at any person's being 

 near them. They feed upon fish, as we have 

 observed; yet the young gannet is counted a 

 great dainty by the Scots, and sold very dear ; 

 so that the lord of the above islet makes a consi- 

 derable annual profit by the quantity that is taken 

 therefrom. 



They quit this island towards the latter end of 

 autumn, and when they return in the spring 

 there is usually but three or four at first, which 

 precede the rest as so many spies, or harbingers, 

 and are followed by the flock a few days after, as 

 is attested by several creditable authors. They 

 build their nests in the highest and steepest rocks 

 they can find near the sea, and employ for that 

 purpose such a quantity of sticks as is almost in- 

 credible; insomuch that the inhabitants of that 

 part of the country, upon finding a few nests, 

 think themselves plentifully provided with fur 

 for a twelvemonth. They deposit their eggs 

 in the holes of the rock, and while they are lay^ 

 ing them, rest one foot upon another; whence 

 Johnson thinks they derive their name from So- 

 lea, the sole of the foot : but this is rather an im- 

 probable derivation. They feed their young ones 

 with the most delicate sort of fish ; and if, in fty- 

 ing away with one, they see another they like 

 better, they immediately drop the first, and 

 plunge into the water again with great violence. 



