THE GANNET. 
265 
Kilda. On the subject of the flights from such localities we 
have the following information : — “ These islands are the favourite 
resort of gannets. No disturbances ever appear sufficient to in- 
duce these, more than the other species of sea-fowl, to change 
their haunts, nor do they court uninhabited places in particular. 
In leaving St. Kilda in an evening, they are met flying home in 
long flocks, separated widely from each other, and apparently each 
under a separate leader. At seventy miles from the island they 
were all found directing their course to it. It is imagined by 
the seamen and fishermen of this coast, that they fly out in the 
morning to feed, even to the southern parts of Britain, and return 
in the evening ; a circumstance not improbable, when the strength 
and rapidity of their flight is considered.”* That they fly so far 
— though having the power to do so — is, I conceive, very impro- 
bable. Brom a more recent visitor to the island, we learn that — 
“ The gannet (Sula alba) is to be seen in vast numbers about 
St. Kilda, from whence a portion of them take their departure 
every morning to fish in the bays and channels of the outer He- 
brides, the nearest of which is about fifty miles distant. I have 
even seen them in Dunvegan Lough, in the Isle of Skye, about 
ninety miles from St. Kilda, to which I have no doubt they all 
retire at night. In fact, long strings of gannets may be seen on 
the approach of evening, winging their way to the westward” 
(p. 64). * * * “The account given by Martin of the barren 
gannets, which roost separately from the others, was confirmed by 
the natives.”! 
Sir William Jardine gives, from personal observation, a very 
interesting account of the gannets at the Bass Bock, { where they 
appear to be as tame as Audubon describes them on the American 
coast, or, indeed, hardly less so than voyagers report birds to be 
on the first visit to uninhabited islands. 
* M'Culloch’s * Western Islands of Scotland/ vol. ii. p. 54. 
f “ Account of the Island of St. Kilda,” &c. ; by John Macgillivray. Edin, 
Phil. Journ., No. 63, January, 1842, p. 66. 
{ ‘ British Birds/ vol. iv. p. 245. 
