8o 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



FULMARS, SHEARWATERS, AND PETRELS 



Order Tiihiiiarcs; family ProceUariidcc 



HE Fulmars, Shearwaters, and Petrels are the family Procellariidcc and with 

 the Albatrosses form the order of Tube-nosed Swimmers. As the name of the 

 order indicates, its chief point of difference from all other orders is the tubular 

 form of the nostrils. Other characteristics are : the bill, hooked and enlarged at 

 the tip and with the upper section longer than the lower and with the covering 

 in several horny sections; the tail, rather short with twelve or fourteen feathers; 

 the wings, usually long and pointed ; and the hind toe, either small or lacking, 

 and, if present, elevated. The plumage is compact and oily and shows a 

 tendency toward uniformity in coloration. Often the bodies of the birds in 

 this family are so fat that they can be used for illumination. 



Over the oceans of the world are distributed nearly one hundred members 

 of this family. About thirty -five are of regular or accidental occurrence in North America. 

 Not a member is ever found inland unless driven there by a storm. Neither do any of 

 them frequent the shores except for the purpose of reproduction. They spend practically 

 all their time on the wing, and gather their food of marine animals and oily matter from the 

 surface of the water. 



So far as is known, the members of this group lay only a single egg. The Fulmars 

 nest in colonies, like the Gulls, on the small islands near the shores of the North Pacific and 

 North Atlantic. Of the nesting habits of the Shearwaters, very little is known; some breed 

 on the islands of the North Atlantic, and it is probable that others breed on the islands 

 of the southern hemisphere, coming north as the southern winter sets in. Some of the 

 Petrels breed in the northern hemisphere and others in the southern. The species in this 

 group concerning whose nesting habits we do know something usually deposit the lone egg 

 in a burrow or a cavity. The young when hatched are covered with down, usually of a 

 grayish color, and are cared for in the nest. At first they are fed by regurgitation on an oily 

 fluid. 



FULMAR 

 Fulmarus glacialis glacialis (Linncrus) 



A. O II. .Number 86 



Other Names. — Fulmar Petrel; Molly Hawk; John 

 Down; Sea Horse; MoUimoke ; Mallemuck; Noddy. 



Length. — i8 to 20 inches. 



Color. — Lkjht Ph.\.se: Mantle, pale bluish-gray re- 

 stricted to back and wings or extending also on head 

 and tail ; primaries and secondaries, dark ashy-brown ; 

 a dark spot in front of eye; rest of plumage, pure white; 

 bill, yellow, tinged with green above and below ; feet, 

 pale gray ; iris, brown. Dark Phase: Entire plumage, 

 smoky-gray, paler below ; feathers of upper parts, with 



darker margins; primaries, ashy-brown; bill, dull 

 yellow; feet, dusky-gray; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — The single white egg is deposited 

 in a crevice of the rock. 



Distribution. — North Atlantic; breeds from north- 

 ern Greenland to Cumberland Sound, and east at least 

 to Franz Josef Land; ranges north to latitude 85" and 

 west to Melville Island ; winters south to fishing banks 

 ofif Newfoundland and to Georges Bank off Massa- 

 chusetts, rarely to New Jersey. 



Tile Fulmar is a circumpolar bird of the north- 

 ern hemisphere. It breeds in countless numbers 

 in Greenland, Franz Josef Land, Baffin Bay, Ice- 

 land, Spitzbergen, St. Kilda, and other regions 

 throughout the northland. It is one of the largest 

 of its family in the northern hemisphere, and an 

 untrained or careless observer might mistake it 



for a Cull, but its jieculiarly constructed bill 

 separates it distinctly from that family, and puts 

 it among the so-called " Tube-nosed Swimmers." 

 Moreover, its flight is much more like that of 

 the Albatross and differs sharply from that of the 

 Shearwaters and Petrels. As Percy R. Lowe 

 says (in Our Common Sea-birds) : " With out- 



