21 
Dr. R. 0. Cunningham on the Solan Goose. 
owe our information principally to Audubon and Dr. Bryant, the 
latter of whom, in a paper in the ‘ Proceedings of the Boston 
Society of Natural History ’ (viii. p. 65), has given an excellent ac¬ 
count of the localities in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He says, “The 
northerly or highest half of the summit of Gannet Rock, and all 
the ledges on its sides of sufficient width, the whole upper part of 
the pillar-like portion of the Little Bird, and the greater part of 
the remaining portion of this rock, were covered with the nests 
of the Gannet at the time of my visit. On the ledges the nests 
were arranged in single lines, nearly or quite touching one an¬ 
other ; on the summit, at regular distances one from the other 
of about three feet. Those on the ledges were built entirely of 
seaweed and other floating substances; on the summit of the 
rock they were raised on cones, formed of earth or small stones, 
about ten inches in height and eighteen in diameter when first 
constructed, presenting, at a short distance, the appearance of a 
well-hilled potato-field. I saw no nests built of zostera, or 
grass, or sods; the materials were almost entirely fuci, though 
anything available was probably used; in one case the whole 
nest was composed of straw, and in another, the greater part of 
manila rope-yarn. The nests on the summit of the Great Bird 
were never scattered, but ended abruptly in as regular a line as 
a military encampment. Through the midst of the nests were 
several open spaces, like lanes, made quite smooth by the con¬ 
tinued trampling of the birds, which seemed to be used for 
play-grounds; these generally extended to the brink of the pre¬ 
cipice, and reminded me very much of the sliding-places of 
otters. 
“ The birds were principally feeding on herring, but also on 
capelin filled with spawn, some fine-looking mackerel, a few 
squids, and, in one instance, a codfish weighing at least two 
pounds. The surface was swarming with a species of staphy- 
linus, that subsisted on the fish dropped by the birds. Occa¬ 
sionally a nest could be seen in which the single egg had not 
been deposited, and perhaps one, in two or three hundred, with 
a newly laid one; on all the rest the Gannets were already sit¬ 
ting, and though none of the eggs were as yet hatched, many 
of them contained fully formed chicks. On being approached 
