290 
ORDERS OF BIRDS— FULLY-WEBBED SWIMMERS 
spots they can find, there is no bird which man 
cannot reach with a gun, no nest to which he 
cannot climb, or be lowered at the end of a 
rope. 
Sea-birds everywhere are persecuted by man, 
either for their eggs or for themselves. In 
their breeding-season the Gannets are con- 
tinually visited by Indians and whites, who 
take their eggs. “Scarce a day passes,” says 
Mr. Lucas, “without a visit from fishermen in 
search of eggs, or murres. Many barrels of 
eggs are gathered during the season, and alto- 
gether the birds lead a rather precarious ex- 
istence. There is a law regulating the taking 
of eggs, and if this were observed, or could be 
strictly enforced, a large number of eggs could 
be gathered annually, while at the same time 
the number of birds would steadily increase.” 
As will be inferred, the Gannet lives wholly 
upon fish, and is an expert deep-water diver. 
In his report on his “Explorations in Newfound- 
land and Labrador,” Mr. Lucas gives the fol- 
lowing interesting account: 
“While lying at Grindstone Island we first 
made the acquaintance of the Gannets, whose 
head-quarters are at Bird Rocks, and had a good 
opportunity to watch them fishing. The birds 
are usually associated in small, straggling 
flocks, and with outstretched necks, and eyes 
ever on the lookout for fish, they fly at a height 
of from 75 to 100 feet above the water, or occa- 
sionally somewhat more. The height at which 
the Gannet flies above the water is proportioned 
to the depth at which the fish are swimming 
beneath, and Captain Collins tells me that when 
fish are swimming near the surface, the Gannet 
flies very low, and darts obliquely instead of 
vertically upon its prey. 
“ Should any finny game be seen within range, 
down goes the Gannet headlong, the nearly 
closed wings being used to guide the living arrow 
in its downward flight. Just above the sur- 
face, the wings are firmly closed, and a small 
splash of spray shows where the winged fisher 
cleaves the water to transfix his prey. Disap- 
pearing for a few seconds, the bird reappears, 
rests for a moment on the water, long enough 
to swallow his catch, then rises in pursuit of 
other game. The appetite of the Gannet is 
limited only by the capacity of its stomach, 
and a successful fisher may frequently be seen 
resting on the water, too heavily laden to rise 
without disgorging a part of its cargo, which it 
sometimes must do to escape from the pathway 
of an approaching vessel.” 
Any person who is accustomed to diving, 
even from a very moderate height, knows well 
the serious disturbance to vision caused by the 
shock of impact with the water. That a Gan- 
net — or any other bird — can fall from even a 
height of twenty-five feet, saying nothing of a 
hundred, take the water plunge, and retain its 
gaze upon its prey sufficiently to follow and 
capture it, surely betokens a special optical 
provision which as yet we know nothing about, 
Photo, by R. J. Beck. Galapagos Islands. 
MAN-O’-WAR BIRDS. 
and which remains to be discovered and de- 
scribed. 
Besides the species described above, there 
are five other species of gannets, called Boobys, 
with various prefixes, which touch the coasts 
of the continent of North America. 
THE MAN-O’-WAR BIRD FAMILY. 
Fregatidae. 
Whenever at sea in the tropics your attention 
is arrested by the flight far aloft of a big, dark- 
colored bird with long, sharp-pointed wings, 
and a long tail that is deeply forked, know that 
it is a Frigate-Bird , 1 or, as the sailors call it, 
1 Fre-ga'ta a'quil-a. Length, about 40 inches. 
