NOTES ON PLUMAGE OF FULMAR 103 



front of the eye. This description also applies to specimens 

 captured off Fitful Head, Shetland, in May. 



In the adults some of the feathers of the mantle and scap- 

 ulars are edged with ashy brown, as are also some of the 

 outer webs of the wing coverts — a feature seldom mentioned 

 in descriptions. These brown markings are, however, some- 

 what irregularly distributed, and impart a mottled appearance 

 to the upper plumage. The white portions of the plumage 

 are not pure white, as is generally stated, but have a yellow 

 cast, as already mentioned. The following is a detailed 

 description of the complicated coloration of the bill taken a 

 few moments after death. Upper mandible. — Nasal tubes 

 light bluish grey with black freckles, orifice black ; culmen 

 plate greenish brown, brownish horn - colour at its apical 

 hook ; upper maxillary plate light bluish grey ; lower maxil- 

 lary plate pale horn-colour. Under mandible. — Ventral plate 

 pale greenish horn-colour ; dorsal plate pinkish olive at base, 

 passing to slate colour at apex ; terminal plate horn-colour. 

 Feet pale greenish grey, the webs lighter. Irides dark 

 hazel. This description of the adult plumage is taken from 

 specimens procured at St Kilda in September, and at Fair 

 Isle in April and May. 



The Fulmar is either a dimorphic species, or there are 

 two races of it, a pale and a dark form. The dark bird is 

 said to predominate on the north coast of Iceland and in 

 Greenland, and to breed there in incredible numbers. The 

 Duchess of Bedford, however, informs me that none of these 

 dark birds were observed among the great numbers of 

 Fulmars which came under her notice at Grimsey, an island 

 off the north coast of Iceland, in July 1910. This form has 

 been detected in small numbers among the vast throng of 

 Fulmars which are such a marked feature in the bird-life of St 

 Kilda, and several have been snared on the breeding-ledges at 

 different times in recent years ; — one was observed among 

 the nesting Fulmars at Soay in the summer of 191 1. It is 

 well known to the St Kildans, who designate it the " Blue 

 Fulmar," on account of its being " blue all over," including 

 the bill. These dark Fulmars have been erroneously regarded 

 by some authors as immature birds. 



