GAXNET. 
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ledges, the strong wind of the previous week having probably blown off those that had not already taken 
their leave. A few old birds Avere flying round and occasionally settling, but the main body had entirely 
disappeared from this part of the coast. 
The natives declare that the young Geese are driven off by the old when able to fly. It is possil)le that 
this occasionally happens (and I should imagine it highly probable, owing to the behaviour of my tame birds), 
though I have repeatedly seen the young leaving the llock of their own accord. When almost full-feathered 
they may frequently he observed flapping their wings ; and while so engaged I have noticed them, especially in 
squally Aveather, lose their balance and come fluttering down from their ledges. In such cases tliey usually 
manage to avoid striking the loAver part of the Rock and reach the AA^ater in safety. On leaving the nest for 
their first flight, young birds seldom succeed in making their way further than one hundred and fifty or two 
hundred yards from the Rock, so Aveighty is their condition that the Avings have not sufficient poAA^er to enable 
them to gain a longer distance. The juA^eniles are supposed to he entirely deserted by their parents when 
once they reach the Avater. I have seldom, if ever, met with old birds and young in the first plumage in 
company at sea ; and in not a single instance did I ever observe an adult paying the slightest attention to a 
young one after leaA-ing the nest. It is a curious fact that not the least notice is taken of a young one falling 
on the Avater, CA^en by its OAvn parents ; Avhile an old bird that is shot will immediately draAV scores around it, 
Avhere they Avill remain flying in circles till the bird has drifted a mile or two on the tide. 
The men have an idea that the young after leaving the Rock are obliged to remain for at least a AA^eek on 
the Avater, till they have become light enough to get on Aving and procure food for themselves. When a gale 
from the north-east comes on shortly after a number of young have left the Rock, they are all bloAvn ashore, 
being unable to make lieadAvay against the force of the AA'ind and sea. Rrom my own observations I 
was perfectly convinced that Avhen they first reach the AA^ater after leaAung the nest they Avere utterly 
incapable of rising on wing. I have rowed up alongside of numbers, and, though driving and even touching 
them Avith the oars, they made no attempt to seek safety by flight ; it AA'as perfectly obvious that SAAnmming 
was their only resource for a time. I am aware that young birds Avhen old enough to leave the nest are so Avell 
nourished that they are capable of sustaining life for considerably over a AA'eek Avithout food. A farmer in 
the neighbourhood of Canty Bay haAung requested the men to procure him a young Goose alive, one was 
brought ashore and placed under an inverted Avashing-tub till a chance occurred to forAAmrd it to its destination. 
The unfortunate bird, hoAvever, Avas entirely forgotten ; and it was not till the fourteenth day that, the tub 
being required, the captive was discovered. The poor creature was certainly rather light and weak, though by 
no means in a hopeless eondition. The Aveather, unluckily, happening to be rough, there was no fish at hand, 
so the Avretched bird Avas knocked on the head to preA'ent its dving of hunorer. 
I belieA'e the young separate entirely from the old birds immediately after leaving the Rock. As far as I 
have been able to judge, they make their AAmy south at an earlier date than the birds in the more advanced 
stages. On the 23rd of September, 1880, I shot a young one in the nestling-plumage about half a mile at sea, 
off the coast of Sussex*. I have never met with adults in this part of the Channel till some months later. The 
Gannets most commonly observed attending the fleets of herring-boats in the North Sea during October and 
NoA^ember are the adults and the intermediate stages of tAvo and three years of age. Rrom the 15th to the 
20th of December, 1878, large flocks of Gannets AAmre observed in the Channel betAAmen ten and tAvelve miles 
off the land, and I particularly remarked that not a single bird of the year could be detected ; the majority 
Avere in the adult stage, though a feAV exhibiting a certain amount of black feathers on the back (probably 
betAveen two and three years of age) were occasionally seen. Immense shoals of sprats Avere doubtless the cause 
♦ This useless murder would not have boon perpetrated had I not thought it possible, when the bird appeared in view, that it might bo 
a juvenile escaped from the enclosure where my tame Gannets were confined. A young one had been noticed that morning flapping its wings 
in a manner that suggested a desire to bo off. 
