206 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
accidents, and to supply food for the inhabitants of the 
places where they breed. Their egg is white, and rather 
less than that of the common goose: the nest is large, and 
formed of any thing the bird finds floating on the water, 
such as grass, sea plants, shavings, &c. These birds fre- 
quent the Isle of Ailsa, in the Firth of Clyde; the rocks 
adjacent to St. Kilda, the Stack of Souliskery, near the 
Orkneys; the Skelig Isles, off the coasts of Kerry Ireland, 
and the Bass Isle, in the Firth of Edinburgh: the mul- 
titudes that inhabit these places are prodigious. Dr. Har- 
vey’s elegant account of the latter, will serve to give some 
idea of the numbers of these, and of the other birds that 
annually migrate to that little spot. 
“There is a small island, called by the Scotch, Bass 
Island, not more than a mile in circumference; the surface 
is almost wholly covered during the months of May and 
June with nests, eggs, and young birds; so that it is scarce- 
ly possible to walk without treading on them: and the 
flocks of birds in flight are so prodigious, as to darken the 
air like clouds; and their noise is such, that you cannot, 
without difficulty, hear your next neighbour’s voice. If 
you look down upon the sea, from the top of the preci- 
pice, you will see it on every side covered with infinite 
numbers of birds of different kinds, swimming and hunt- 
ing for their prey: if in sailing round the island you sur- 
vey the hanging cliffs, you may see in every crag or 
fissure of the broken rocks, innumerable birds of various 
sorts and sizes, more than the stars of heaven when view- 
ed in a serene night: if from afar you see the distant flocks, 
either flying to or from the island, you would imagine 
them to be a vast swarm of bees. 
“ Nor do the rocks of St. Kilda seem to be less fre- 
quented by these birds; for Martin assures us, that the in- 
habitants of that small island consume annually no less 
than 22,600 young birds of this species, besides an amaz- 
ing quantity of their eggs; these being their principal sup- 
port throughout the year; they preserve both eggs and 
fowls in small pyramidal stone buildings, covering them 
with turf ashes, to preserve them from moisture. This is 
a dear bought food, earned at the hazard of their lives, 
either by climbing the most difficult and narrow paths, 
where (to appearance) they can barely cling, and that too, 
at an amazing height over the raging sea: or else being 
lowered down from above, they collect their annual pro- 
vision, thus hanging in mid way air; placing their whole 
dependence on the uncertain footing of one person who 
holds the rope, by which they are suspended at the top of 
the precipice. The young birds are a favourite dish with 
the North Britons in general: during the season they are 
constantly brought from the Bass Isle to Edinburgh, 
sold at 20d. a piece, are roasted, and served up a little be- 
fore dinner as a whet. 
“The Gannets are birds of passage. Their first appear- 
ance in those islands is in March; their continuance there 
till August or September, according as the inhabitants 
take or leave their first egg; but in general, the time of 
breeding, and that of their departure, seems to coincide 
with the arrival of the herring, and the migration of that 
fish, (which is their principal food,) out of those seas. It 
is probable that these birds attend the herring and pil- 
chard during their whole circuit round the British isl- 
ands; the appearance of the former being always esteem- 
ed by the fishermen as a sure presage of the approach of 
the latter. It migrates in quest of food as far south as the 
mouth of the Tagus, being frequently seen off Lisbon 
during the month of December, plunging for Sardinoe, 
fish resembling, if not the same with our Pilchard. 
“I have in the month of August observed in Cathness 
their northern migrations: I have seen them passing the 
whole day in flocks, from five to fifteen in each: in calm 
weather they fly high; in storms they fly low and near 
the shore; but never cross over the land, even when a bay 
with its promontories intervenes, but follow, at an equal 
distance, the course of the bay, and regularly double every 
cape. I have seen many of the parties make a sort of halt 
for the sake of fishing: they soared to a vast height, then 
darting headlong into the sea, made the water foam and 
spring up with the violence of their descent; after which 
they pursued their route. I inquired whether they ever 
were observed to return southward in the spring, but was 
answered in the negative; so it appears that they annually 
encircle the whole island. 
“They are well known on most of our coasts; but not by 
the name of the Soland-Goose. In Cornwal and in Ire- 
land they are called Gannets by the Welsh Gan. The 
excellent Mr. Ray supposed the Cornish Gannet to be 
a species of large Gull; a very excusable mistake, for dur- 
ing his six months residence in Cornwal, he never had 
an opportunity of seeing that bird, except flying; and in 
the air it has the appearance of a gull. On that supposi- 
tion he gave our Skua, p. 417, the title of Cataracta, a 
name borrowed from Aristotle, and which admirably ex- 
presses the rapid descent of this bird on its prey. Mr. 
Moyle first detected this mistake; and the Rev. Doctor 
William Borlase, by presenting us with a fine specimen 
of this bird, confirms the opinion of Mr. Moyle; at the 
same time he favoured us with so accurate an account oi 
some part of the natural history of this bird, that we shall 
use the liberty he indulged us with, of adding it to this 
description. 
