BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 27 



on the water. A single white egg is laid in May on a 

 little grass at the end of a burrow. The bird is partly 

 nocturnal in its habits. 



THE FULMAR PETREL 



(Fulmarus glacialis). 



The Fulmar Petrel is a bird about the size of a 

 Common Gull, and with a veiy gull-like plumage. But 

 it may be readily distinguished, even at a distance, by 

 various points : the tubular nostrils are very conspicuous, 

 and the flight is quite different. As with some Skuas, 

 there is also a dark 'phase.' The Fulmar's only British 

 nesting -places are in the Scottish isles — some of the 

 Hebrides, and of the St Kilda and Shetland groups — 

 and on the Scottish mainland near Cape Wrath. In 

 winter it is found off many parts of the Scottish and 

 English coasts, but is seldom obtained in the south of 

 England or in Ireland. The single egg is white — occa- 

 sionally slightly spotted — but usually becomes much soiled 

 durina; incubation. It is laid in a hollow scratched in 

 the turf of a ledge or steep slope on the cliffs. On 

 St Kilda and elsewhere great numbers are taken each 

 yeai- for the sake of the flesh and oil. 



