. British birds with their nests and eggs . ear ever to havebeen trained like its congener, the Cormorant, to catch fish for its owner. ]Mr. Charles Doncaster, in a letter to the late Mr. Henry Seebohm,describes a coasting excursion made bj^ him, round the cliffs of Hoy, in the monthof June, when he saw immense numbers of Shags in every stage of plumage. Isaw one, he sajS, upon its nest which looked almost accessible, and, withstockings only on my feet, managed to reach it. The bird when she saw memade most amusing menaces; she seemed to be trying to throw her head off atme, and erected the li
. British birds with their nests and eggs . ear ever to havebeen trained like its congener, the Cormorant, to catch fish for its owner. ]Mr. Charles Doncaster, in a letter to the late Mr. Henry Seebohm,describes a coasting excursion made bj^ him, round the cliffs of Hoy, in the monthof June, when he saw immense numbers of Shags in every stage of plumage. Isaw one, he sajS, upon its nest which looked almost accessible, and, withstockings only on my feet, managed to reach it. The bird when she saw memade most amusing menaces; she seemed to be trying to throw her head off atme, and erected the little bit of crest which she had remaining from the fullspring plumage. The nest, when I reached it, was much like a Cormorants, bothin material and smell. I found two young ones very recently hatched, the brokenshells being close by ; they were naked, blind, and dark slate coloured. The Shagis much more common here than the Cormorant. They are clumsy in diving fromthe rocks, seeming to go into the water anyhow; one I saw plunge nearly tail. Z z <O The GArsiNET, it first! It would be hardly possible for an oniilliologist to have a finer boatingexcursion, at least in Great Britain, than that round H03 head in the breedingseason. Family—S ULID^. The Gannet. Siila bassana, LlNN. THE Solan Goose, as the Gannet is very often named, is one of the most splendidmembers of the British avl-faiuia. It is a large, heavy, goose-like, marinebird, with a long conical bill, and long and pointed wings. When fully adult, itsplumage, in both sexes, is pure white, tinged with buif on the head and neck, withthe outer edge of the wing and its primary- quills and their coverts black; thenude skin of the throat, and round the e3e, dark blue; the iris ^-ellowishwhite ; the frontal shield bright green ; the bill horn colour, -\\-ith dark blue lines ;and the legs and feet black. The Gannet is not a common bird; its habitats and breeding places arefew, far apart, and difficult of access. In South Brit
Size: 1387px × 1800px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1896
