AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
205 
disapprobation thereof, rushed forward upon the young 
assassins, and, driving them one by one furiously off the 
spot, sprang to the rescue of the fainting and bleeding ani- 
mal, and withdrawing it from the deep ditch, bore it off 
in triumph to his quarters. There, extending it upon 
straw, and licking it all over, he recalled the vital spark, 
and then, laying himself down upon it, restored it to some 
degree of ease from the warmth imparted to it. After 
this, the kind and feeling Dog fetched provision to his sick 
charge, and the people of the house, inspired by the ex- 
ample of the minor animal, gave it warm milk. Day after 
day did the Dog tend the sick object of his care, until it 
was perfectly recovered, and they are both to be seen at 
this dajr, after a long lapse of years, at the Talbot Inn, 
Liverpool. — These lessons from the brute creation to him 
who proudly calls himself the effigy of the Divinity, are 
humiliating, but may be useful to the many who need 
them . — London Sporting Magazine. 
THE GANNET. 
PELECANUS BASS ANUS. 
[Plate XVIII. Vol.2. — Young and adult.] 
Pelecanus Bassanus , Linn. Syst. 217. Anser Bassa- 
nus, Gesner av. 163. Solan Goose Win. Orn. 328. 
Raii. Syn. av. 122, Martins Voy. St. Kilda, 27, 
Descript. West. Isles, 2S1. Sula Bassana le Fou de 
Bassan Brisson av. vi. 503, tab. 44. Jaen. Fan 
Gent. Martin’s Spitsberg, 97. Sula. Horeri Cluf. 
ex 367, Hector Boeth. 6. Norvegis Sule, Hav. — Sul. 
Brunnich, 124, Pennant, British Zool. Vol. 2. p. 
518, PI. 103, White's Ed. — J. Doughty’s Collec- 
tion. 
The Gannet, although a frequent visiter of our sea- 
shore, has thus far been unnoticed in American works on 
ornithology. It is now for the first time pictured in the 
accompanying plate, and is represented in the young and 
adult stages of existence. The young Gannet was for a 
long time mistaken, and described by some naturalists as 
another species, but lately these errors have been cor- 
rected. 
The writer has never seen the Gannet in the Philadel- 
phia markets, but obtained a very line specimen from 
New-York, to which place they are often brought for 
sale, more frequently, however, in the younger state. On 
the south side of Long Island, in the month of October, 
F f f 
the Gannets appear in numbers, but mostly in company 
with the velvetand scoter ducks, and come and depart regu- 
larly with these birds to and from their feeding grounds. 
The Gannet is strong on the wing, especially in windy 
weather, and is seldom seen inside of the surf, but is most- 
ly sailing over the waters, in order to discover and strike 
its prey. This bird is very awkward on foot, in conse- 
quence of the shortness of the legs and their position; 
being placed far behind, which necessarily causes the bird 
to walk nearly upright, like the corvorant; the tail, which 
extends beyond the feet, is always ragged or worn at the 
end, by being dragged on the ground by the bird when 
walking on the beach. For a more ample history and 
description of the Gannet, the following is selected from 
Pennant’s British Zoology. 
“This species weighs seven pounds: the length is three 
feet one inch; the breadth six feet two inches. The bill is 
six inches long, straight almost to the point, where it in- 
clines down; and the sides are irregularly jagged, that it 
may hold its prey with more security: about an inch from 
the base of the upper mandible is a sharp process pointing 
forward; it has no nostrils; but in their place a long fur- 
row, that reaches almost to the end of the bill: the whole 
is of a dirty white, tinged with ash colour. The tongue 
is very small, and placed low in the mouth: a naked skin 
of a fine blue surrounds the eyes, which are of a pale yel- 
low, and are full of vivacity: this bird is remarkable for 
the quickness of its sight: Martin tells us that Solan is 
derived from an Irish word expressive of that quality. 
“From the corner of the mouth is a narrow slip of black 
bare skin, that extends to the hind part of the head : be- 
neath the chin is another, that like the pouch of the Pele- 
can, is dilatable, and of size sufficient to contain five or 
six entire herrings; which, in the breeding season, it 
carries at once to its mate or young. 
“The neck is very long: the body flat, and very full of 
feathers: the crown of the head, and a small space on the 
hind part of the neck is buff coloured: the rest of the plu- 
mage is white, the bastard wing and greater quill-feather 
excepted, which are black; the legs and toes are black; 
but the fore part of both are marked with a stripe of fine 
pea green. The tail consists of twelve sharp pointed 
feathers, the middle of which is the longest. 
“ The young birds, during the first year, differ greatly 
in colour from the old ones; being of a dusky hue, speckled 
with numerous triangular white spots; and at that time 
resemble in colours the speckled Diver. Each bird, if left 
undisturbed, would only lay one egg in the year; but if that 
be taken away, they will lay another; if that is also taken, 
then a third; but never more that season: a wise provi- 
sion of nature, to prevent the extinction of the species by 
