6 PROCELLARIIDiE. 



a straggler. Its winter range is known to extend as far 

 south as the Mediterranean, a specimen having been obtained 

 at Cette on the 18th of December, 1860. In Iceland it is one 

 of the commonest of birds, it being stated that from twenty 

 to thirty thousand young Fulmars are annually caught on the 

 Vestmanneyjar Islands to the southward, and Mr. Proctor 

 observed that it was common at Grimsey, where the dark 

 grey form is said to predominate. It is found in abundance 

 in the Greenland Seas, Davis Strait, and Baffin Bay ; 

 and up Smith Sound two were observed by the * Alert ' 

 explorers in 82° 30' N. lat. Round Spitsbergen both forms 

 are very numerous, and the light one breeds in thousands on 

 some of the islands ; also, in less abundance, on Novaya 

 Zemlya ; but its continuous range cannot as yet be traced 

 along the coast of Arctic Siberia. In Bering Sea and the 

 North Pacific are found two forms of questionable specific 

 distinctness, F. pac[ficus and F. rodgersi, which also display 

 the grey phase of plumage, and one of these, or else our 

 Fulmar, occurs on Prince Albert Land. On the Atlantic 

 seaboard the winter range of the Fulmar extends to Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Scoresby, in his account of the Arctic Regions, has given a 

 long account of this species, part of which is as follows : — 

 " The Fulmar is the constant companion of the whale-fisher, 

 joining his ship immediately on passing the Shetland Islands, 

 and accompanying it to the highest accessible latitudes. It 

 keeps an eager watch for anything thrown overboard ; the 

 smallest particle of fatty substance can scarcely escape it. 

 Fulmars are remarkably easy and swift on the wing, flying 

 to windward in the highest storms, and resting on the water 

 in great composure in the most tremendous seas ; but it is 

 observed that in heavy gales they fly extremely low, gene- 

 rally skimming along by the surface of the water. They 

 are extremely greedy of the fat of the whale, and though few 

 should be seen when a whale is about being captured, yet, 

 as soon as the flensing process commences, they rush in 

 from all quarters, and frequently accumulate to many thou- 

 sands in number. They then occupy the greasy track of the 



