i6o 
BIRDS 
[Clafs II 
SPECIES III. The Gannet. Plate 3 
Soland goofe. IViL orn. 3 2 S. 
Rail fyn. av. 122 . 
Sib. hi ft. Scot. 20 . Tab. 9 . 
Sib. hift. Fife 45? 47 * „ . 
Solan goofe. Adantin s voy. St. Kilda. 
27 . 
H I S fpecies weighs four pounds and a 
quarter : the length is three feet one 
inch ; the breadth lix feet two inches. 
The bill is fix inches long, ftrait almoft to the 
point where it inclines down ; and the lides are 
irregularly jagged, that it may hold its prey with 
more fecurity : about an inch from the bafe of thy 
upper mandible is a fharp procefs pointing for¬ 
ward : it has no noftrils 5 but in their place a long 
furrow, that reaches almoft to the end of the bill: 
the whole is of a dirty white, tinged with afh- 
color. The tongue is very fmall, and placed low 
in the mouth : a naked (kin of a fine blue fur- 
rounds the eyes, which are of a pale yellow, and 
are full of vivacity : this bird is remarkable for the 
quicknefs of its fight; Martin tells us that Solan 
is derived from an Irijh word expreffive of that 
quality. 
From the corner of the mouth is a narrow flip 
of black bare fkin, that extends to the hind part 
of the head : beneath the chin is another, that 
like the pouch of the Pelecan , is dilatable, 
and of fize fufficient to contain five or fix entire 
herrings ; which, in the breeding feafon, it carries 
at once to its mate or young. 
The neck is very long : the body flat, and very 
full of feathers : the crown of the head, and a 
fmall fpace on the hind part of the neck is bufF 
colored : the reft of the plumage is white ; the 
Defcript. weft . ftes 281. 
Macauly* s hift. St. Kilda 133. 
Sola Baffana. Brijfon av. VI. 503. 
Tab. 44. 
Pelecanus Baffanus, Lin. fyft. 133. 
baftard wing and greater quil feathers excepted, 
which are black; the legs and toes are black; 
but the fore part of both are marked with a ftnpe 
of fine pea green. The tail confifts of twelve 
fharp pointed feathers, the middle of which is the 
longeft. 
The young birds, during the firft year, differ 
greatly in color from the old ones; being of adufky 
hue, fpeckled with numerous triangular white 
fpots ; and at that time referable in colors the 
fpeckled Diver. Each bird,if left undifturbed,would 
only lay one egg in the year; but if that is taken 
away, they will lay another ; if that is alfo taken, 
then a third ; but never more that feafon. A wife 
provifion of nature, to prevent the extinction 
of the fpecies by accidents, and to fupply food 
for the inhabitants of the places where they breed ; 
their egg is white, and rather lefs than that of the 
common goofe. Thefe birds frequent the ife of 
Ailfa , in the Firth of Clyde ; the rocks adjacent 
to St. Kilda , a fmall ifle near the Orkneys ; the 
Skelig ifles , off the coafts of Kerry , Ireland , * and 
the Bafs ifle , in the firth of Edinburgh : the mul¬ 
titudes that inhabite thefe places are prodigious. 
Dr. Harvey's elegant account of the latter, will 
ferve tp give fome idea of the numbers of thefe, 
and of the other birds that annually migrate to 
that little fpot. 
u There is a fmall ifland called by the Scotch 
u Bafs ifland, not more than a mile in circumfe¬ 
rence ; 
* This information we owe to that worthy prelate, the late Dr. 
Pocock, Bifhop of Meath } who had vifited the Skeligs. Mr. Smith , in 
his hiftories of Cork and Kerry , confounds this bird with the Gull de- 
feribed by Mr. Willoughby ; from whom he has evidently borrowed the 
whole defeription. 
