22 Dr. R. 0. Cunningham on the Solan Goose. 
the birds manifested but slight symptoms of fear, and could 
hardly be driven from their nests; occasionally one more bold 
would actually attack us. Their number on the summit could 
be very easily and accurately determined by measuring the sur¬ 
face occupied by them; by a rough computation I made it to 
be about fifty thousand pairs, and probably half as many more 
breed on the remaining portion of the rock and on the Little 
Bird.” 
Like most other birds, the Gannet is preyed upon by various 
parasitic insects of the order Anoplura. In the specimens 
which I have examined I found two distinct species in great 
numbers on the feathers of the fully fledged birds, and even 
on the naked skin of recently hatched individuals ; and these 
on examination were found to be referable to the Decophorus 
hassance and Lipensus staphylinoides of Denny. Montagu de¬ 
scribes a parasite from the cellular membrane of the skin under 
the name Cellularia bassani ; but, though I have looked for it 
with care, I have not succeeded in meeting with it. 
It would appear that the Gannet is a very long-lived species, 
as Mr. Selby was informed by the keeper of the Bass that he had 
recognized, from particular and well-known marks, certain indi¬ 
viduals for upwards of forty years that invariably returned to 
the same spot to breed. It is likewise long in arriving at a state 
of maturity. Selby fixes the time as four years; but I was in¬ 
formed by the present tenant of the Bass that it is five, and, 
from the varieties in plumage which different individuals present, 
I can readily believe it. There has been some discussion as to 
whether the Solan Goose does or does not possess external nostrils; 
but, from a careful examination of specimens in every stage of 
growth, I have satisfied myself that they are never present at any 
period of its existence. 
The young bird when first hatched is naked, and of a greyish 
slate-colour, which varies in intensity in different parts of the 
body. The space round the eye and the skin over the oil-gland 
are yellowish white; the bill is horn-coloured at the tip, and the 
upper mandible is provided with a scale, which soon disappears. 
The down begins to make its appearance very rapidly, but is at 
first confined to the upper parts. This stage of the nestling’s 
