FULMAR PETREL. 7 



ship ; and being audaciously greedy, fearlessly advance within 

 a few yards of the men employed in cutting up the whale. 

 It is highly amusing to observe the voracity with which they 

 seize the pieces of fat that fall in their way ; the size and" 

 quantity of the pieces they take at a meal ; the curious 

 chuckling noise which, in their anxiety for despatch, they 

 always make ; and the jealousy with which they view, and 

 the boldness with which they attack, any of their species 

 that are engaged in devouring the finest morsels. When 

 carrion is scarce, the Fulmars follow the living whale, and 

 sometimes, by their peculiar motions when hovering at the 

 surface of the water, point out to the fisher the position 

 of the animal of which he is in pursuit. They cannot make 

 much impression on the dead whale until some more powerful 

 animal tears away the skin, for this is too tough for them to 

 make way through it." 



In the adult bird the curved point of the bill is yellow, 

 the sides yellowish-white, the superior ridge investing the 

 nostrils greenish ; irides dark brown ; a small dark spot in 

 front of the eye ; head and the neck all round white ; the 

 back, all the wing-coverts, secondaries, tertials, upper tail- 

 coverts, and tail-feathers pearl-grey ; wing-primaries slate- 

 grey ; breast, belly, and all the under surface of the body 

 white : sometimes with a little grey on the flanks ; legs, toes, 

 and their membranes, pale grey in life, drying yellowish ; 

 the claws slender, but curved and pointed. The whole length 

 of an adult male is about nineteen inches ; the wing, from 

 the anterior bend, twelve to thirteen inches ; the middle toe 

 and its claw longer than the tarsus. 



In the grey phase the Fulmar has the tip of the bill 

 yellow, the sides brownish-yellow, the sheath of the nostrils 

 almost black; head, neck, back, wings, and tail nearly 

 uniform ash-brown, but the surface of the back and wings 

 rather darker in colour ; chin, neck in front, and all the 

 under surface of the body also uniform ash-brown, but 

 rather paler in colour than the upper surface ; legs and 

 toes bluish horn-colour, membranes paler. 



