baked, are used for stuffing beds; about 100 birds producing
a stone of feathers.
Tlie birds form tlieir nest, which seldom exceeds six or
eight inches in height, of a mass of sea-weeds, particularly
the Fucus digitatus, and grass, upon which they deposit a
single egg, which, when first laid, is of a chalky white, tinged
with pale blue, but soon becomes soiled; average measurements
3’25 by 1*9 in. During incubation, in consequence
of being unmolested, the Gannets become very tame; and,
where the nests are easily accessible, will allow themselves
to be stroked by the hand without resistance, or any show
of impatience, except a low guttural note which sounds
like grog, grog. Sometimes the old birds are very vociferous,
and as they are continually interfering with each other and
taking advantage of the absence of their neighbours to
pilfer the materials of their nests, a constant noise is kept
up amongst them, which may be expressed by the syllables
cciirci, carra, croc, cro. Curious materials are sometimes
found in the nests of this species; Martin was told at St.
Kilda that a red coat had been found in one nest, and a
brass dial, an arrow, and some Molucca beans in another.
From an excellent monographical account of this species
by Dr. R. 0. Cunningham (Ibis, 1866, pp. 1-23), it appears
that the earliest reference to it is in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, in which, in the account of the events recorded
in a.d. 975, Oslac is said to have been driven into exile “ over
the rolling waves—over the ganet-bath.” “ Solendre ” are
alluded to by John de Fordun in his ‘ Scotichronicon ’ as
breeding on the Bass Rock; and Hector Boethius gives details
of the habits of the “ Solands ” in his ‘ Scotorum Historic,’
published in 1526. The species was subsequently noticed
by Turner, Gesner, Clusius, William Harvey, Ray, Wil-
lughby and Martin : to say nothing of mere copyists, or of
later writers. The name Gannet is doubtless a modification
of the ancient British gans, which corresponds with the old
High German kans, the Greek the Latin anser, and
the Sanskrit hansa, all of which signify a Goose; but the
origin of the name Solan or Soland, in its various forms, is
not so obvious. By some of the earlier writers the word was
derived from the Latin solea, in consequence of the bird’s
supposed habit of hatching its egg with its foot! In the
2nd and 3rd Editions of the present work, the Author suggested
in a foot-note “ Solent or Channel Goose ” as its meaning
; but, as remarked by the editor of ‘ The Ibis’ for 1866,
in a foot-note to Dr. Cunningham’s paper, it seems at least
as probable that the “ Solent” took its name from the bird.
Gannets feed exclusively upon fish, and being birds of
great powers of flight, they take a very wide range over the
sea in search of food. Shoals of herrings, pilchards, or
sprats, appear to have the greatest attraction for them, and
all the species of the genus Clupea, it will be recollected,
swim near the surface. On quitting their northern breeding-
stations in autumn, many of these birds take a southern
direction. Off the Cornish coast, Mr. Couch says in his
Fauna, “ Adult birds are most abundant in autumn and
winter, fishermen learning by the actions of these birds when
shoals of pilchards are present, and the direction they are
pursuing. The Gannet takes its prey in a different manner
from any other of our aquatic birds; for traversing the air
in all directions, as soon as it discovers the fish, it rises to
such a height as experience shows best calculated to carry it
by a downward motion to the required depth; and then partially
closing its wings, it falls perpendicularly on the prey,
and rarely without success, the time between the plunge and
emersion being about fifteen seconds.” Mr. Booth, however,
found that his young Gannets from the Bass Rock,
where pilchards are not known, would not willingly eat
that fish, rejecting it when thrown to them with herrings,
which, with mackerel, formed their favourite food. In
autumn and winter, off the coast of Cornwall, this species
feeds largely on sprats and anchovies. Gannets attracted
to the same shoal, and fishing in company, are frequently
caught in considerable numbers by becoming entangled in
the meshes of the fishermen’s long sea-nets.
Two Gannets taken from the Bass on the 19th August,
1874, paired and made a nest in a shed in Mr. Booth’s