The Guardian/1920/07/06/Country Diary

5.

As a captor of surface-swimming fish the gannet or solan goose is an expert. It flies high above the waves, watching with keen eyes until a herring or mackerel foolishly ventures near to the surface, and then, with half-closed wings, falls headlong through the air and plunges in upon its victim. Gulls usually follow fishing-boats, watching the nets hauled and picking up any bewildered and maimed unfortunate which has struggled through the meshes but fails to get under water; they will, too, wait on the sailing mackerel boats and snatch at the hooked fish when it is being dragged in, and foolishly hook themselves also.

A few days ago some friends of mine were sailing for mackerel off Ramsey, and just when one of them was pulling in they passed a swimming gannet. They saw the hazy blue fish coming reluctantly through the water astern, and the gannet saw it too, but without wasting time to soar and plunge it tried the method of the gull, ducked for the swerving captive, caught it, and rose with fish, hook, and severed gut. If it was feeding young on Ailsa Craig, about a hundred miles away, its white downed infant would find that barbed hook uncomfortable when it plunged its head into the ample gullet of its parent to fish for semi-digested food. The boatman declared that he had never known a gannet steal a hooked fish.

T.A.C.