LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETBELS AND PELICANS. 33 



Barents found some fulmars nesting upon a piece of ice covered with a little 

 earth. In both of these cases the uuderpart of the egg during hatching could 

 not be warmed above tlie freezing point. 



Macgfillivray (1852) gives a very good account of the breeding 

 habits of this species at St. Kilda, quoting from the notes of his 

 son, who visited the locality in 1840; he writes: 



St. Kilda has long been noted as the only breeding place in Britain of the 

 fulmar petrel, ProcclUiha fflacialis (An Fulmar, or Fulimar). This Inrd exists 

 there in almost incredible numbers, and to the natives it is by far the most 

 important of the productions of the island. It forms one of the principal means 

 of support to the inhabitants, Who dally risk their lives in its pursuit. The 

 fulmar breeds on the face of the highest precipices, and only on such as afe 

 furnished with small grassy shelves, every spot on which above a few inches 

 in extent is occupied with one or more of its nests. The nest is formed of 

 herbage, seldom bulky, generally a mere shallow excavation in the turf, lined 

 with dried grass and withered tufts of the sea pink, in which the bird deposits 

 a single egg of a pure white color when clean, which is seldom the case, and 

 varying in size from 2 inches 7 lines to 3 inches 1 line in length, and 1 inch 

 11 lines to 2 inches in breadth. On the 30th of June, having partially descended 

 a nearly perpendicular precipice 600 feet in height, the whole face of which 

 was covered with the nests of the fulmar, I enjoyed an opportunity of observ 

 ing the habits of this bird, which has fallen to the lot of few of those who have 

 described them, as if from personal observation. The nests had all been 

 robbed about a month before by the natives, who esteem the eggs of this species 

 above all others ; those of the auk, guillemot, kittiwake, and puffin ranking 

 next, and the gannet, scart, and cormorant last of all. Many of the nests con- 

 tained each a young bird a day or two old at furthest, thickly covered with 

 long white down. Such of the eggs as I examined in situ had a small aperture 

 at the broad end, at which the bill of the chick was visible, sometimes pro- 

 truding a little way. Several addled eggs also occurred. The young birds were 

 very clamorous on being handled and vomited a quantity of clear oil, with 

 which I sometimes observed the parent birds feeding them by disgorging it. 

 The fulmar is stated in most works on ornithology to possess the power of 

 ejecting oil with much force through its tubular nostrils, using this as a mode 

 of defense, but, although I surprised several upon the nest, I never observed 

 them attempt this. On being seized they instantly vomit a quantity of clear 

 amber-colored oil, which imparts to the whole bird, its nest and young, and 

 even the very rock which it frequents, a peculiar and very disagreeable odor. 



A slightly different account of this breeding place is given by 

 Baird, Brew^er, and RidgAvay (1884), based on the observations of 

 Captain Elmes (written Elwes by Godman), as folloAvs: 



Soon after landing he started with some of the best cragsmen for the cliffs 

 at the north side of the island. On reaching the summit of Conachan. the high- 

 est point, he came suddenly on a precipice not less than 1,220 feet in height. 

 The whole of this immense face of rock was so crowded with birds that the 

 water was seen far below as if through a heavy snow storm, and the birds, 

 which were flying in front of the cliff, almost obscured the view. All the ledges 

 near the top were covered with sliort turf, full of holes, in which the fulmars 

 were sitting on their eggs, with their heads and part of their bodies exposed 

 outside. In some cases they were quite concealed, but generally the soil was 

 too thin for them to malce more than a slight excavation. Thousands of 



