garden early in March, 1879. On the 4th May it was found
that the female was covering an egg, but some younger
Gannets in the same enclosure dragged away some of the
materials of the nest and smashed the egg. In 1880 another
nest was made, and an egg was noticed on the 19th of May.
The young bird, “ a small black shapeless monstrosity,
resembling a toad,” was hatched on the 1st July; and on
the 7th it showed the eyes open, the irides dark hazel, the
beak a dull slate, white at the point, and a slight sprinkle of
down on the head. By the 11th of August it was fully
covered with down ; tail-feathers began to show on the 18th,
and by the 17th of September very little down remained.
On the 2nd of October the young bird was fed by its
parents for the last time ; and Mr. Booth says that he was
told by the natives of Canty Bay that the old birds take no
notice of the young after they leave the nest.
Occasionally the down remains latest on the head and
neck, giving the bird the appearance of wearing a long wig;
and an excellent illustration of this quaint stage, in which
it is known as a “ Parliamentary Goose,” is given in Mr.
Booth’s book. From the experiences of that gentleman, and
from the investigations of the Editor at the Bass, the successive
plumages may be briefly described as follows :—
In the bird of the first year the bill is almost black; the
general plumage mottled dusky-ash and buff below, and
blackish-brown above, flecked with white. In the second
year the underparts are principally white, the head and neck
being streaked with ash-brown; wings and mantle still dark,
with fewer white spots. The third year the head and neck
are white with a little tinge of buff, and the mantle is diversified
with white, especially on the scapulars and secondaries;
tail also shows some white; bill nearly white. During the
fourth and fifth years the white gradually increases and pervades
the upper parts, and in the sixth year the bird attains
full plumage. In the adult bird the bill is of a horny-
white ; the naked skin of the face bluish-black; irides pale
straw-yellow ; the head and neck buff-colour, which increases
with age ; all the rest of the plumage white, except the
wing-primaries, which are black; the legs and toes in front
green, the other portions and the connecting membranes
almost black. The whole length of the bird is about thirty-
four inches; from the wrist to the end of the first quill-
feather, nineteen inches.
From the account given to Mr. Selby by a resident at
the Bass, it would appear that the Gannet is a very long-
lived bird, as certain individuals had been recognized, from
particular and well-known marks, as invariably returning to
the same spot to breed for upwards of forty years.
In Mr. Dresser’s £ Birds of Europe,’ vol. vi. p. 187, two
woodcuts are given of the breastbone of the Gannet, with
remarks by the late Mr. John Flower, who points out that
the coracoids are articulated in a direction nearly parallel
with the axis of the sternum, and not, as in most birds, at
nearly right angles to it. This arrangement differs widely
from that in the Cormorant, and appears to be the best
suited for offering the minimum of opposition in the bird’s
diving progress. Another remarkable feature, which has
been noticed by Montagu, Sir Kichard Owen, Macgillivray,
and Prof. Newton, is the system of subcutaneous air-cells
which pervade almost the whole surface of the body, and
are capable of voluntary inflation or exhaustion.
A White Pelican, Pelecanus onocrotalus, is mentioned by
Sir Thomas Browne, and afterwards by Montagu, as having
been shot in Horsey Fen, Norfolk, in May, 1668, but it
was supposed to be one of the king’s birds which had flown
away from St. James’. Mr. Cecil Smith informs the Editor
that early in April, 1883, he examined one which had been
shot on Exmoor, and subsequently proved to have escaped
from a travelling menagerie. There is no evidence to show
that examples of either of the two kinds of Pelican which
have their nearest haunts in south-eastern Europe have ever-
wandered to these islands; but in pre-liistoric times a species
did inhabit our fens, and its bones have been exhumed in
Norfolk.