152 The bish Nahiralist. September, 



could attract the birds to the north coast of Ulster, or 

 even to the north coast of Mayo, I fail to understand. 



It is, however, plain that the Fulmars are increasing and 

 spreading on the coasts of the British Islands, and fresh 

 breeding stations may be looked for on Irish cliffs. 



Cappagli, Co. Watcrfonl. 



FURTHER NOTES ON THL: FULMAR. 



BY R. M. BARRINGTON, M.A., F.L.S, 



My friend Mr. Ussher has kindly permitted me to read his 

 account of the Fulmar nesting in Mayo — a most interesting, 

 but not unexpected, discovery, for probably no other 

 European bird has so continuously extended its breeding 

 range during the past hundred years. 



Darwin {Origin of Sf>ecies, ed. 4, p. y^) says it is the 

 most numerous bird in the world, but Professor Newton 

 thinks {Did. of Birds, p. 296) that to render such a statement 

 probable, its Pacific and also its Antarctic representative 

 must be united with it. Anyhow, the Fuhnar Petrel, as 

 we know it, is one of the commonest oceanic species 

 between Europe and America, and though only about the 

 size of a Common Gull, it is the nearest representative of 

 the Albatross in the North Atlantic. It has been con- 

 fused time out of mind with various species of gull by 

 the passengers on our Atlantic liners, and these gulls 

 have frequently obtained credit for the great buoyancy and 

 gracefulness of flight so characteristic of the Fulmar. 



Mr. Harvie Brown, in his Fauna of the North West 

 Highlands and Skye (1904, p. 359), is surprised at its 

 absence from Ireland, for he says — " I wiU only ask one 

 question, viz. — How is it that no expansion has yet become 

 evident to the coasts of Ireland ? " and subsequently, in 

 letters to me, suggested Donegal and Rathlin Island as 

 probable early settlements. 



At one time the Fulmar was, with the single exception 

 of St. Kilda, an almost Arctic breeding species. 



