FEEDING HABITS OF THE FULMARS OFF THE 

 COAST OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.* 



*' Sun, wind, and cloud shall not fail from the face of it, 

 Stinging, ringing spindrift, nor the fulmar flying free ; 

 And the ships shall go abroad 

 To the glory of the Lord 

 Who heard the silly sailor-folk and gave them back their sea ! " 

 — RuDYARD Kipling, The Last Chantey. 



Ten miles west of Point Lorn a, at the entrance of Sau Diego 

 Bay, is an extensive fishing bank extending parallel with the 

 coast for a distance of several miles. This bank is resorted to 

 during fair weather from October first to March first by the 

 San Diego fishermen, who obtain large quantities of rock-cod 

 there for the markets of southern California. The fishing is 

 all done in from seventy-five to one hundred fathoms of water. 

 There are often large schools of small fish on the surface which 

 attract great numbers of sea-birds, including the fulmars, and 

 it is along this bank that fulmars are to be found if anywhere 

 near shore. 



Some time about the last of SejDtember the first of them 

 make their appearance, the exact date being somewhat uncer- 

 tain and due in a measure to the food supply, and quite possi- 

 bly also to the weather. They are hardly what one would call 

 gregarious, although several are often seen in company flying 

 along in a loose, straggling flock. More often they are seen in 



1 Abridged, with author's permission, from an article by A. W. Anthony 

 in The Auk, April, 1«95. 



