THE GANNET. 
259 
sinkers and fish, to the top, where such as were not drowned, made a 
sad struggle to escape. There were four nets in this train ; but the 
above ninety-four were in one of the nets, and there were thirty-four 
additional birds in the other part of the train, being one hundred and 
twenty-eight gannets in all.” It is added, that “ there are found also in 
the nets, what are here called holland hawks,* and humans ;f — a hol- 
land hawk weighs 14 lbs. — the bird called human weighs 7 or 8 lbs., 
and is speckled on the back like a starling, belly and breast pure white. 
Some others of the Ailsa birds are also got in the nets at all depths ; — 
one is about the size of a pigeon, f moves in the water with extended 
wings, always pushing his way forward, and thus gets drowned. 
Herrings are occasionally taken in the wide cod-net, and also mackerel.” 
W ere these facts not amply attested, I would be incredulous about the 
depths which the gannet sounds ; but the information furnished in 
writing, the truth of which, it is stated, may be implicitly relied on, 
is precisely what was related to my friends, and the singularity of which 
prompted my inquiry. The vicinity of Ailsa Craig, the great breeding- 
haunt of the gannet in this quarter, must be recollected, in connection 
with what is here related. 
They have repeatedly been captured since in the same manner. 
At the end of March 1840, an eye-witness mentioned to me that 
he saw a number of gannets taken from the herring-nets there. 
On the subject of the gannet* s fishing, the following notes have 
been contributed. Some of these birds came daily under the 
observation of a scientific friend, who spent some time late in 
the summer of 1833 at Cushendall, on the coast of Antrim. He 
remarked that when in pursuit of prey they invariably went down 
perpendicularly, remained a long time under water, and never re- 
appeared without a fish crosswise in their bills, which was thrown 
up into the air, caught by the head in its descent, and swallowed. 
This done, they flew away close above the surface of the water to 
* Great Northern Diver. Colymbus glacialis, Linn. “ Allan-hawk ” is applied 
to divers ( Colymbi ) generally, in Belfast Bay. 
f Red-throated Diver. Colymbus septentrionalis, Linn. 
t Puffin {Mormon fratercula, Temm.), probably, judging from the size. The 
description of the manner of moving under water, would, perhaps, apply generally to 
diving birds. 
