26 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Family HYDROBATIDAE, Fulmars, Shearwaters, and Petrels. 



MACRONECTES GIGANTEUS (Gmelin). 

 GIANT FULMAR. 



HABITS. 



This great fulmar or overgrown petrel, as large as the smaller 

 albatrosses, is one of the best known birds of southern oceans and 

 antarctic seas, for which the sailors have a variety of names, such 

 as " Nellie," " cape hen," " Mother Carey's goose," " bonebreaker," 

 or "stinker." Almost every writer on antarctic birds has added 

 something to our knowledge of this " vulture of the seas " and almost 

 every southern navigator is more or less familiar with it. 



Nesting. — Mr. W. Eagle Clarke (1906) gives an interesting ac- 

 count of his experiences with this bird on its breeding grounds on 

 the South Orkney Islands ; he says : 



The giant petrel was present at the station all the year around, but was 

 very much less numerous during the winter months. There was a decided 

 falling off in May, but the lowest ebb was reached in June and continued 

 until September, when the summer birds of this species commenced to arrive. 

 During the nesting season it was estimated that about 5,000 were on Laurie 

 I. alone, and when one remembers the savage nature and almost insatiable 

 appetite of these giants, it is easy to realize what a terrible scourge they 

 must have been to the penguins, upon which and their eggs and young it 

 was their one aim to gorge themselves to repletion. 



They were to be seen everywhere in the summer time, but their rookeries 

 were confined to the north and east coasts. Three of these rookeries 

 were visited, two of which, namely, those on the Watson Peninsula, contained 

 two hundred nests each, while the third at Cape Geddes comprised only about 

 one hundred. One of the larger colonies was situated on bare rocky ground 

 from 300 to 400 feet above sea level, and the other on a moraine at an eleva- 

 tion of from 250 to 300 feet. The nests consisted of great piles of small an- 

 gular stones, and were about two feet in diameter. The third and smaller 

 rookery was on a low strip of ground between a cliff and the shore, and was 

 close to the sea ; the nests were similar to the others. Although these con- 

 tained no eggs on November 3d, yet the birds allowed a close approach, one 

 of the parents sitting on the nest, the other usually standing close alongside. 



The first eggs were laid on November 4th, but four only were found on that 

 date. On the 19th, however, eighty were obtained, all single specimens, ex- 

 cept in two instances where two were found, probably laid by as many females. 

 The birds had to be pushed off the nest ere the eggs could be taken, for very 

 few flew away of their own accord. They showed no fight when evicted, and 

 usually sat down a yard or two Sl^vvlj ; nor did they shoot oil from their 

 nostrils, but they vomited contents of their stomachs, not as a mode of de- 

 fense, but to get rid of ballast in order to take wing. They resorted to the 

 same lightening process when chased. Unfortunately, the weather conditions 

 and those of the ice did not permit of these rookeries being again visited, 

 so that the period of incubation could not be ascertained nor the capture of 

 young be effected. 



