THE FULMAR PETREL 



295 



of their wealth. Every St. Kildan almost constantly wears a 

 coil of hemp rope slung round his body, as well as a jack- 

 knife hung with a string from his neck. The birds are taken 

 with a rod about ten feet long, at the end of which, fastened 

 to a hazel twig, is a plaited horsehair noose, stiffened for the 

 greater part of its length with split quills of the Gannet. The 

 fowler creeps stealthily towards the birds as they are sitting 

 on their nests or standing on the cliffs, and slips the fatal 

 noose over the head of bird after bird. As soon as the noose 

 is over the bird's head the fowler draws the fluttering captive 

 to him, and directly they are taken he usually breaks their 

 neck and hangs them in his belt — the eggs, which he never 

 leaves after taking the sitting-birds, are stowed away in his 

 cap. When caught the Fulmar generally vomits a quantity 

 of clear amber-coloured oil, and a little flows from the 

 nostrils. During the Fulmar harvest in autumn the birds 

 when caught are made to vomit this oil into dried gullets of 

 the Gannet, which the fowler carries for the purpose hung 

 round his w^aist. This oil is very valuable as a sheep dressing, 

 and is said to be a sovereign remedy for rheumatism. When 

 the young Fulmars are almost full-gTOwn the great event of 

 the year at St. Kilda takes place — the Fulmar harvest is 

 gathered in. Yast numbers of birds are killed, and the oil 

 and fat extracted from them. The feathers are exported in 

 great quantities, and the bodies are salted for winter pro- 

 visions. 



The grand home of the Fulmar becomes even more im- 

 pressive when viewed from the sea below. The scene when 

 the birds are frightened from the cliffs beggars all description. 

 The myriads of birds are past all belief= — the air is sensibly 

 darkened by their enormous numbers ; still the cliffs are white 

 with sitting-birds. The Fulmars make the air one vast living 

 snowstorm — the hordes of Puffins look like dense clouds of 

 winnowed chaff. Tens of thousands of birds sweep round 



