GANNETS ON THE BASS ROCK.
The Bass Rock is the only breeding-station of the gannet on the eastern coast of the British Islands.
Frigate-birds are remarkable in more ways than one. To begin with, their general appearance may be described as that of a small, long-winged, fork-tailed albatross, mounted upon particularly diminutive legs, so short as to do little more than raise the body off the ground. Their flight is wonderfully graceful, and capable of being sustained for considerable periods; for, like the gannets, they pass most of their time on the wing. They feed upon surface-fish, which they capture from the surface of the water without alighting, or upon fish which they take from the gannets of the neighbourhood.
Frigate-birds build their nests in trees, on low bushes, or on the ground, and sometimes upon ledges of precipitous cliffs. The nest is a loose structure composed of sticks, and its construction is accompanied by much pilfering from one another. Only a single egg is laid.
About the beginning of January the male acquires a very remarkable pouch of brilliant scarlet skin, which hangs beneath the beak. Frigate-birds are found all over the world within the tropics.
The Tropic-birds, or Boatswain-birds, as they are sometimes called, are more like gulls or the heavier species of terns in general appearance, and in no way resemble superficially the forms with which they are associated, save in the fact that all the toes are enclosed in the same web. A study of their anatomy, however, leaves little doubt that these birds are really members of the Pelican Tribe.
Either pure white, relieved with black, or of a beautiful apricot-yellow, with similar black markings, with a powerful bill and long tapering tail, the tropic-bird is one of the most beautiful of sea-birds. There are altogether about six species of tropic-birds, distributed over the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They nest in hollows of cliffs or holes in trees, and lay a single egg, which bears some resemblance to that of a kestrel.
CHAPTER VIII.
SCREAMERS, DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS.