46 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



soft flesh. They also follow ships to some extent to pick up bits of 

 offal thrown overboard. 



Behavior. — My first view of a fulmar in flight was a pleasing sur- 

 prise, for I never imagined that so short and heavy a bird, as it 

 appears in a dry skin, could be so light and graceful on the wing. 

 Its long, slender, pointed wings, give it the apjDearance of a small 

 albatross, but its characteristic flight is shown in the frequent periods 

 of rapid wing strokes, almost as rapid as those of a duck, with which 

 it rises or turns into the wind, followed by a long scaling flight 

 slightly downward on outstretched wings. Its short, thickset body 

 and its peculiar flight are quite distinctive. Fulmars rest lightly on 

 the water, swimming easily and buoyantly; they can ordinarily rise 

 readily from the surface, but in calm weather they experience some 

 difficulty. They are great wanderers, of restless habits, and are 

 seldom seen near land except in the vicinity of their breeding 

 grounds. 



Fulmars are usually silent; the only sounds I ever heard from 

 them were the soft, gutteral croaking love notes, on their breeding 

 grounds. Mr. Elliott (1880) says: 



I have never heard it utter a sound, save a low, droning croalc when dis- 

 gorging food for its young. 



Winter. — During the southward movement in the early fall the ful- 

 mars often gather in large numbers, associating with the shearwaters 

 and other ocean birds, in localities where whales are abundant, par- 

 ticularly in the passes among the Aleutian Islands, after which they 

 scatter for the winter over the broad expanse of the north Pacific 

 Ocean. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — The breeding range of this supposed species 

 includes the islands in northern Bering Sea (the Pribilof, St. 

 Matthew, Hall, and St. Lawrence Islands) and in the Arctic Ocean 

 (Wrangel and Herald Islands). In the author's opinion this is 

 part of the range of the Pacific fulmar, from which this species 

 should not be separated. The winter ranges and migrations of the 

 two seem to be identical. Breeding grounds protected in Bering 

 Sea and Pribilof reservations. 



Egg dates. — Pribilof Islands: Two records. May 28 and June 28. 

 Saint Matthew Island : One record, July 9. 



PRIOCELLA ANTARCTICA (Stephens). 

 SLENDER-BILLED FULMAR. 



HABITS. 



This fulmar was described by Audubon (1840) from a specimen 

 taken by Doctor Townsend, "within a day's sail from the mouth 



