I91I. BarringTon. — Furthcf Notes on the Fulmar. 153 



In 1839 it was first noticed at the Faroe Islands, midway 

 between Shetland and Iceland. I visited a station there, 

 situated on the remote island of Myggenaes, twenty years 

 ago, and found a considerable colony there. 



In 1878 it was observed breeding on a cliff about 1,100 feet 

 high on Foula, one of the most inaccessible of the Shet- 

 land Isles. When I inspected this locality the birds 

 chiefly occupied the top 100 feet of the cliff. 



About 1891 the Orkney Islands were reached, and in 1898 

 my old friend Howard Saunders found them on the 

 mainland of Scotland, at Cape Wrath ; thence they have 

 spread round the coasts of Sutherland and Caithness, and 

 extended to the Flannan Isles, &c. 



The old station at the " south isles of Barra," said by 

 Gray {Birds of the West of Scotland, p. 449) to have been 

 abandoned in 1844, is a doubtful record. 



During a prolonged stay on St. Kilda, I frequently 

 descended the face of the Great Cliff (Conacher, 1,400 feet) 

 with the St. Kildeans when catching Fulmars and other 

 sea-birds, being specially interested both in the birds them- 

 selves and in the climbing abilities of the natives ; for, as a 

 member of the Alpine Club, I was anxious to compare their 

 skiU with that of the Swiss guides. 



The Fulmar makes no nest ; it usually selects ledges, 

 with some kind of vegetation scattered here and there, 

 generally grass, and chooses a natural depression, either on 

 grass or on the rock behind it, and here it lays its single 

 white egg. It is very tame, and sometimes remains sitting 

 until the intruder is within 3 feet, when it ejects with 

 some force about half a wineglassful of strong -smelling oil, 

 the scent of which is extremely difficult to remove from 

 one's clothes. 



When I visited the Mayo station with Mr. Robert Warren 

 during the first week in August this year, most of the 

 Fulmars had left, and only four or live old birds and a couple 

 of nestlings remained. The situation was probably the 

 most inaccessible I have seen, midway on the north-east 

 face of a perpendicular cliff about 700 feet high. 



