12 Dr. R. 0. Cunningham on the Solan Goose. 
and are large in proportion to the body : when the wings are 
spread, from the end of one to the other they measure six feet. 
This bird is eatable either roasted or salted: the Scots call it 
Gentelman. It is a Bird of passage, or of the wandering un¬ 
settled sort. It is not seen in this country before the latter end 
of January, or beginning of February, when the herring-fishing 
begins, and then it serves for a sign to give notice of the season. 
They do not come nearer land than within half a mile; thus 
the farmer observes when the fish seek the narrow and shallow 
waters. At Easter these birds are not seen any more, therefore 
I cannot say much about their breeding. They are so stupid 
that by laying a few herrings upon a floating board, they may be 
inticed to the boat and killed with the oar.”* A most amusing 
figure of the bird is given which exhibits the comb on the head 
very distinctly. 
In the f Systema Naturae 5 the Solan Goose constitutes the fifth 
species of the genus Pelecanus , and is thus characterized : “ P. 
cauda cuneiformi, corpore albo, vostro serrato , remigibusque primo- 
ribus nigris, facie ccerulea , * * Habitat in Pelago septentrionali, 
vice appropinquans littora per 2 milliaria ; indicat Halecum adven- 
tum, quem sequitur Gentleman s. Jaen von Gent dicta” 
The last account of the Solan Goose in the works of the older 
authors to which I shall advert occurs in Walker's ‘ Essays on 
Natural History and Rural Economy/ under a description (p. 308) 
of the Bass and its productions. In the course of his remarks on 
the habits of the bird, this writer quotes Harvey's account of its 
nidification, and then goes on to say that his inquiry with regard 
to certain particulars contained therein had found them to be 
fabulous, for the keeper informed him that the birds “ do not stand 
upon their egg, as is commonly reported, but sit upon it with 
their breast, which we saw indeed, like other fowls, but one of 
their feet is always folded under them upon the egg. Neither 
is it poised upon its end, but lies upon its side, and they turn 
it like other fowls.'' 
* The Natural History of Norway, part. II. Translated from the 
Danish Original of the Right Revd. Erich Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen 
in Norway, p. 76. 
t Editio Duodecima Reformata. Holmise, 1766. 
