8B6 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



taken partly for food, and partly for sale to tourists and 

 dealers. The Grannets were formerly a source of considerable 



profit to the natives, and they are still prized, though to a 

 loss extent. They were, and still are, captured on their 

 arrival in the spring, both for food and for the sake of tin 1 

 feathers : but the great raid on them used to be early in 

 September, when the young ones were fledged, but just 

 before they were ready to fly. The young were eaten, but 

 they were especially valued for their oil and their feathers. 

 They were killed in large numbers, and being brought 

 over in large boatloads, were skinned, and the skin, with 

 the adhering fat, was boiled, the oil rising to the surface 

 and being skimmed off; the fat inside the body of the bird 

 was melted down by itself without boiling. The men 

 used to get Is. a pint for the oil, but now they can only 

 get 4-?,d. offered for it, so that it is not worth their while to 

 go through the labour involved to get it. Hence during 

 the past few years the autumn raid upon the young 

 gannets has been discontinued. The adult birds are, 

 however, still captured on their arrival in the spring, 

 generally about the middle of April, at which time alone 

 are they considered fit for eating. They are captured at 

 night, and the darker the night the better, whilst the 

 association of a dark night and pouring ruin furnish 

 the most favourable conditions. Those who have climbed 

 Stack Lii will appreciate the skill and hardihood of tin 4 

 natives in performing the task in i]\e dark, especially if. 

 the nicks are wet with rain. There is always a sentinel 

 awake for every group of Gannets, and tin 1 success or 

 failure 1 of the expedition hangs entirely on the capture of 

 the sentinel. The men creep up very quietly to the spot, 

 and take the opportunity of seizing the sentinel when he 

 Is off his guard, picking ai bis Ijrea&l or preening his 

 feathers; h<* is seized by the bill and his neck broken by 



