148 GANNET 
SULA BASSANA (Linn.). GANNET, 
Jounny Gant. Manx, *Gant, Gaunt (M. S$. D.). 
Through the summer season the Gannet is common, and 
in places even numerous, off the Manx coast, but we have 
no record of a single specimen voluntarily alighting on 
Manx soil. Mr. Kermode’s extreme dates are 20th March 
and 29th September, nor have I ever observed specimens 
earlier or later, though even in winter the species does not 
entirely desert the British coasts. Our visitors belong no 
doubt, at least principally, to the great colony on Ailsa 
Craig, some hundred miles (by sea) distant. In favoured 
spots, like Peel Bay, a number is at any time during the 
season to be seen fishing, or more rarely resting on the 
water, and they are believed to pass northwards at the 
close of each day, returning in the early morning. 
The fishing of a flight of snow-white Gannets, as seen 
on the blue waters of Peel Bay, with its surroundings of 
castle-crowned island and rich red cliffs, is one of the most 
picturesque of the ornithological spectacles of Man. 
Gannets are often caught alive in the nets on the 
herring-grounds, especially when they are being hauled in 
the early morning; at such times they are near the surface, 
and. the fish enclosed become conspicuous. 
Immature birds appear to be uncommon off the Manx 
coast. 
After Ailsa Craig, the nearest colonies to Man are those 
on the Bass Rock and Grassholm (Pembroke). The other 
British settlements are on Lunday Island, St. Kilda, 
Sulisgeir, Suleskerry off Scotland,” and the west Irish 
1 Mr. Service tells me that an odd nest has been found so near us as the Big 
Scar in Luce Bay. 
