THE I'l I.:\IAR PEiUlOL. 



The Fulinai- I'ctrel is alwajs abundant iu Davis' Straits and Baffin's Bay, and it is 

 common in the icy seas. It ajjpears, however, to bo migratory, as Caj^tain Sabine, 

 when detained in Jacob's Bay, saw these birds passing in a continual stream to the 

 nortlnvard, in numbers onlj' inferior to the flight of the " passenger pigeon" of North 

 America. 



They visit the rocty St. Kilda, one of the western Isles of Scotland, in spring, and 

 iind a temporary abode tlicre in holes and caverns. The natives risk their lives, scaling 

 the tremendous and overhanging cliffs in search of the young, from whose bodies they 

 obtain down and oil. 



" Xo bird," says I'ennant, " is of such use to the islanders as this ; the Fulmar supplies 

 I hem with oil for their lamps, down for their beds, a delicacy for their tables, a balm for 

 their wouvids, and a medicine for their distempers." 



JIi'. Jolin Macgillivray, who visited St. Kilda in June, 1840, remarks: " The nests had 

 uU been robbed about a month before bj' the natives, who esteem the eggs of this species 

 above all others. Many of tlic nests contained each a young bird, a day or two old a( 

 fuilhermost, thickly covered witli a long white down. The old birds, on being caughl, 

 instantly emit a ([uaiitity of dear amber-coloured oil, which imparts to the whole bird, 

 its nest and young, and even to the rock whicli it frequents, a peculiar and very disagree- 

 able odour." 



The Fulmar is nearly as large as a gull, while the Stormy Petrel is about the size, and 

 in appearance not unlike, the Swift, or lui'gest Swallow. 



I'rou Iliiiin Gliiriidis. 



