FULMAR PETREL. 3 



and Somerset, and sometimes, though not often, off Wales 

 and the north-western counties. 



To Ireland the Fulmar is considered to be a still rarer 

 visitor, and Thompson only records three examples, namely, 

 one at Inchidoney Island, one near Dublin, and one near 

 Cork ; but possibly this may be owing to the absence of 

 observers, for Mr. R. Warren has obtained, or found dead, 

 no less than eight examples, on the sands at the Estuary of 

 the Moy. His attention was attracted to two of these by the 

 attempts of a Great Black-backed Gull to kill and devour 

 them in their water-logged and enfeebled condition after 

 heavy weather. 



On the eastern shores of Scotland, according to Mr. R. 

 Gray, this species occurs in winter, being frequently cast up 

 by the sea or obtained in an emaciated condition. Its breed- 

 ing-quarters are St. Kilda, Soa, and Borrera, from which 

 group of rocks it is a straggler in the summer season to the 

 Outer Hebrides ; and it has been erroneously stated to nest 

 in Skye. In the Shetlands the Fulmar was only known as 

 a visitor until the 4th of June, 1878, when about a dozen 

 pairs were observed hovering round the cliffs of the island 

 of Foula, where they reared their young in some places in 

 which, according to the natives, no birds had ever bred before. 

 The nests were placed on small ledges formed by the splitting 

 of the rocks into layers, while the entire cliff seemed so per- 

 pendicular that no foothold could be got for even the smallest 

 bird. The next year about double the number of birds re- 

 turned to the same quarters on Foula, and the species seem 

 to be increasing there (Zool. 1879, p. 380). 



The following account was given in the Edinburgh 

 New Philosophical Journal by Mr. John Macgillivray, who 

 visited St. Kilda in June, 1840 : — " This bird exists here in 

 almost incredible numbers, and to the natives 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 daily risk their lives in its pursuit. The Fulmar breeds 

 on the face of the highest precipices, and only on such as 

 are furnished with small grassy shelves, every spot on which, 



