44 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



86. Fulmarus glacialis (LINN.) [705.] 



Fulmar. 



Hab. North Atlantic, south on the American coast to Massachusetts. 



This species is commonly called Fulmar Petrel. It is found in 

 light and dark phases of dress. Abundant in the North Atlantic and 

 in the Arctic Oceans of America, Europe and Asia. The Fulmars 

 constantly attend whaling ships out at sea and feed on the blubber of 

 the whale, which they devour with voracity. This species is exceed- 

 ingly numerous in the North Atlantic, congregating in thousands at 

 St. Kilda, the most western of the Hebrides, on the west coast of Scot- 

 land. Others of its favorite breeding places are the Faroes, which are 

 farther north ; Iceland, Spitzbergen and Greenland. 



On some of the rocky islands off the coast of Spitzbergen thou- 

 sands of Fulmars breed in company with Brunnich's Guillemot, Black 

 Guillemot, and the Kittiwake Gull. The abundance of the Fulmar 

 at some of its breeding places in Greenland is something astonishing, 

 nesting as they do in myriads on the inaccessible cliffs in mountain- 

 ous places, depositing the single white egg in the crevices or on the 

 ledges of rocks facing the sea. The young are at first fed by regurg- 

 itation, upon oil which is of a clear, amber color. This the birds, old 

 and young, vomit upon the slightest provocation, imparting to them, 

 their nests, and even their breeding grounds a disagreeable odor. The 

 oil is one of the important commercial productions of St. Kilda. 

 The single egg is pure white ; in shape resembling a hen's ; shell 

 brittle. Four eggs from Iceland measure 2.96 by 2.04, 2.74 by 2.91, 

 2.99 by 2. 02, 2.97 by 2.01. 



Besides the typical P. glacialis in the Atlantic, there is also a 

 smaller race, F. g. minor, Lesser Fulmar,* which occurs as far south 

 on the American side as the coast of New England. 



. Fulmarus glacialis glupischa STEJN. [7050.] 



Pacific Fulmar. 



Hab. North Pacific, south on the American coast to Mexico. 



This race is also known in light and dark phases of plumage. Dr. 

 Leonhard Stejneger found it breeding in enormous numbers in suitable 

 places on the islands in Bering Sea off the coast of Kamtschatka. 

 Their rookeries were in high and steep rocky bluffs and promontories, 

 rising out of the sea 300 to 800 feet. Dr. Stejneger says : "I have 

 spent hours under their rookeries listening to their whining voice and 

 watching their high and elegant flight in sailing out and in and around 

 the cracked rocks, like bees at an immense bee-hive." The egg is 



* No. 86a, A. O. U. Check List. 



