FULMARUS. 429 



Genus FULMARUS. 



The Fulmars were included both by Brisson and Linnaeus in the genus 

 Procellaria, but in 1826 Stephens, in Shawn's ' General Zoology' (xiii. pt, 1, 

 p. 230), established for their reception the genus Fulmarus, a name suggested 

 to him by Leach. 



The Fulmar Petrel, Fulmarus glacialis, has by common consent been 

 accepted as the type. 



The Fulmars are large birds, the wings being a foot long and pointed, 

 having the first primary the longest. The tail is short and rounded ; the 

 tarsus is reticulated all round, shorter than the middle toe, but longer than 

 the bill ; the hind toe is very small ; the bill in the only British species 

 is very stout, and the nasal tubes extend along the basal half, joining the 

 maxillary margin which forms the terminal half. 



The genus may be regarded as cosmopolitan, but its limits are not yet 

 accurately defined. 



The Fulmars are exclusively oceanic in their habits. They fiy and swim 

 with the greatest ease, but do not dive. They are remarkably silent birds. 

 They feed on fish and other marine animals. They breed in holes, make 

 little or no nest, and lay a single white egg, which has the peculiar Petrel 

 smell. 



