142 BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF GEELONG 
for its method of fishing attracts instant attention. 
Like the Terns, it hovers and hawks over the sea, at 
a height which would seem almost to preclude the 
possibility of being able to see below the surface ; 
then, having espied a fish, folds its wings and drops 
head-first, with arrow-like speed and deadly accuracy, 
upon its booty, sending up, as it enters the water, a 
high geyser-like shower of spray. I think it rarely 
misses a fish. 
Never leaving the neighbourhood of salt water, 
the Gannet is present in small numbers in Corio Bay 
at almost any time of the year. There are rather 
more in the Outer Harbour, and you may be even 
more sure of finding it anywhere oS the South Coast, 
especially between Point Lonsdale and Torquay. 
It is a large angular-looking bird, with sharp yet 
heavy beak, much bigger than any Gull. Watching 
a Gannet from the shore, say at Torquay, one might 
at first think it was a Shy Albatross ; but these latter 
rarely come close enough in to be seen from the 
land, they do not dive, and are dark right across tjie 
wings, the Gannet being, on the other hand, con- 
spicuous with its white back. The general appearance 
of the Gannet, at a distance, is that of a white bird 
with what look like blackish bars on the upper surface 
of the wings, a slow but high flier. 
I believe there was formerly a nesting-place of 
Gannets on the Laurence Rocks, off Portland. The 
nearest really flourishing present-day colony is on 
Cat Island, in the Furneaux Group. Here, in No- 
