170 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



The Fulmar Petrel breeding in the Forth Area. In the 



summer of 191 5, I observed a single Fulmar Petrel flying up and 

 down at a rock-bird nesting colony on the Berwickshire coast, as 

 recorded by Mr W. Evans in this magazine at the time. I put a 

 "Nature Note" in the Scotsniafi suggesting the strong probability 

 of the species establishing itself in the district as a breeding species 

 either that year or in the near future. Before seeing the bird 

 at the Berwick cliffs, I had paid a visit to Foulsheugh in 

 Kincardineshire in May, and observed there a Fulmar flying about 

 among the Herring Gulls. 



The war intervened, and I did not visit the Forth locality again 

 till the 2nd of May 1920. Looking over the edge of a steep cliff, 

 I saw a pair of Fulmars sitting on a ledge beside some Herring 

 Gulls and Shags : they dropped off, sailed up and down, and then 

 disappeared. A fortnight later, on i6th May, I observed a pair 

 and a single bird on the cliffs of St Abb's Head. The pair had 

 evidently settled, and the odd bird was no doubt looking out for 

 a site for a nest. On 23rd May there were no less than three 

 settled pairs at St Abb's which had taken up nesting sites, and I 

 also saw two or three others flitting about with their characteristic 

 sharp beating, then rapid gliding flight, as different as possible from 

 that of a Gull. I think with my friend Mr Wm. Douglas, who 

 watched the bird with me, that the flight of the Fulmar Petrel at 

 its nesting cliff resembles very much that of the Peregrine Falcon, 

 and displays almost equal command of wing. There was also 

 another pair settled on a part of the cliffs several miles on the 

 west side of St Abb's Head. The birds had invariably selected 

 very inaccessible ledges, rather high up. One pair towards the 

 summit of the cliff I approached within about 25 feet. They 

 uttered a croaking note a little like a Shag's, and threatened me 

 with open beaks and inflated throats. No eggs seemed to be laid 

 at this date, but the females were silting in the chosen hollows. 

 They can be easily distinguished from the Herring Gull when on 

 a ledge, as they never stand up but cling in the manner of a 

 Swift. The birds were much tamer than the Herring Gulls, among 

 which they glided, and frequently would pass along the cliff edge 

 within 20 feet of the spectator. At a great distance the straightness 

 and flatness of the wings easily distinguish them, apart from their 

 much greater speed, from the Gulls. The colony will probably 

 increase, and it would not surprise me to hear that there are others 

 on the Bass and May. Harold Raeburn. 



Fulmars breeding at Fowlsheugh, Kincardineshire. 

 When we visited Fowlsheugh, in June 19 14, and saw Fulmars 



