SCLA, Bl'iSS. Tem. PELECANeS, Lin. &c.
Bill vigorous, long shaped like a lengthened cone, very thick at the base, compressed towards the tip, which is obliquely curved, cleft beyond the eyes, edges of both mandibles serrated ; face and throat naked ; nostrils basal, linear, concealed ; legs short, stout, placed far behind, all the toes connected by a web, nail of the middle toe ser rated ; wings long ; tail conical and composed of twelve feathers.
S. alba, Meyer, Tem. Pelecanus Bassanus, Lin. &c. The young correspond to Pelecanus maculatus, Gruel. Gannet, S'olan, or Soland Goose. Prov. Gall. Tail ed ; body white ; bill, primary quill feathers, and spurious wings, black ; face blue. Length from two feet seven inches to three feet ; extent of wing six feet ; and weight seven pounds.
This species chiefly haunts the northern regions of the two continents. In hard winters individuals are observed on the coasts of England, Holland, France, Fic. but they breed abundantly on the Bass Island, in the Frith of Edin burgh, on Ailsa, off the coast of Ayrshire, the Skellig Isles, on the coast of Kerry, in Ireland, the islands of St. Kilda, Orkney, Shetland, Faroe, &c. The rocks of St. Kilda are, in the summer season, quite covered with these and other sea-fowls, and appear at soma distance like hills covered with snow. Although common in the Orcadian and Shetlandian seas, the gannets of that range chiefly breed on the stack of Suliskerry, which has received its name from that circumstance, sole being Norse for a gan net, and skerry meaning an insulated rock: The gannet arrives in the districts which we have just mentioned in March, and continues till September; nor is it known, in this hemisphere, to breed much farther south than the coasts of Scotland. Some few seem to stay about their breeding stations all winter ; but they are supposed to be the old ones, which are unequal to the distant flight un dertaken by the others. They neither arrive nor depart all at a time. A few of the forerunners are first seen about the Bass; and in some days after the main body fol lows, in several successive divisions. As this bird must let itself fall before it takes wing, it requires a steep and precipitous breeding place. It observes its prey from a considerable height, and darts down on it with incredible G g 2 force. Its nest is a large and rude assemblage of very different materials, as it lays hold of any thing fit for the purpose, whether on the land or floating on the waters, as grass, sea-weeds, shavings of timber, shreds of cloth, and frequently articles picked up at a very great distance, or else from the nests of its neighbours. The female lays
one egg, or more frequently too, which are white, of a rough surface, a long shape, and remarkably small for the size of the bird, being scarcely larger than those of a duck. The male and female incubate, and go a fishing by turns. It is currently, but erroneously reported, not only that they hatch their solitary egg by means of their foot, but that they place it on one end, in such a manner that if a person overturn it, be cannot make it stand as before. The celebrated Dr. Harvey, who visited the Bass, and has described it in very elegant latinity, strangely enough as serts the latter circumstance. In the dilatable skin under their bill, these birds can fetch four or five herrings at a time, besides sprats, which the young extract from the mouth of the parents with their bill, as with pincers. The young begin to be taken in August, and by sonic are re lished as an exquisite morsel ; but the older ones are tough and rancid. The fowler who seizes the young, is often let down by a rope from the top of a cliff, and is some times stationed on the slippery projection of a rock, with a perpendicular precipice of four hundred feet or more beneath him. Gannets are said to be met with in great numbers, about New Holland and New Zealand. They also breed on the coast of Newfoundland, and migrate southward along the American shores, as far as South Ca rolina. When they pass from place to place, they unite in small flocks, of from five to fifteen ; and, except in very fine weather, they fly low, near the shore, doubling the capes and projecting parts, and keeping nearly at an equal distance from the land. During their fishing they rise high into the air, and sail aloft over the shoals of herrings and pilchards, much in the manner of kites. When they observe the shoal crowded thick together, they close their wings to their sides, and precipitate themselves head fore most into the water, dropping almost like a stone. Their eye, in this act, is so correct, that they never fail to rise with a fish in their mouth.