FULMAR PETREL. 435 



breeding-place for sea-birds, and few, indeed, can boast of such enormous 

 numbers. When the young Fulmars are almost full-grown, the event of 

 the year at St. Kilda takes place; the Fulmar harvest is commenced. 

 The birds are caught in great numbers, oil and fat arc extracted from 

 them, their feathers are exported, and the bodies, salted, are preserved for 

 winter provision. ^^ 



The Fulmar only lays one egg, which is rough and chalky in texture, 

 with little or no gloss, and pure white. The eggs soon become considerably 

 stained by contact with the peaty soil ; they vary considerably in size, 

 the small ones doubtless belonging to the small race of Fulmar which is said 

 to frequent the Atlantic. A series of eggs brought by Dixon from St. Kilda 

 vary in length from 3-2 to 2*6 inch, and in breadth from 2*1 to 1*85 inch. 

 The egg of the Fulmar cannot readily be confused with that of any other 

 British species, its peculiar texture and musky smell distinguishing it at 

 once. Both birds assist in incubating the egg, large bare sitting-spots 

 being observed on males as well as females. It is said that the Fulmar 

 only lays one egg in the course of the season, but this is not very pro- 

 bable. The young birds are fed by their parents with an oily substance 

 ejected into the mouth of the nestling : as soon as they are able to fly 

 they quit their birthplace for the open sea. 



There is no difference in the colour of the sexes in the Fulmar. The 

 typical adult Fulmar, which breeds on St. Kilda, has the head and neck 

 creamy white, the rest of the upper parts are pale slate-grey, every feather 

 obscurely margined with white ; the quills are brown, suffused with slate- 

 grey ; there is a dark brown spot in front of the eye, and the entire under- 

 parts, including the under wing-coverts and axillaries, are white, very 

 slightly suffused with buff on the chin, breast, and belly. Bill greenish 

 yellow, greenest on the nasal tubes ; legs and feet pale flesh-colour ; irides 

 hazel. 



There are probably few birds of which less has been known regarding 

 their changes of plumage than the Fulmar. Young in down are described 

 as sometimes pure white and sometimes brownish grey, shading into white 

 on the breast. Young in first plumage appear to have been undescribed ; 

 but Dixon was assured, by one of the most intelligent natives of St. Kilda, 

 that they did not differ from their parents. Brown birds are said to be 

 very rare on St. Kilda ; but of the examples obtained on our coasts, brown 

 birds are most frequent, both facts apparently pointing to the conclusion 

 that the brown birds are immature. Major Feilden is of that opinion, and 

 Professor Malmgren states it as a positive fact. On the other hand, an 

 example in my collection, obtained by Mr. Snow on the Kurile Islands, 

 some time between May and July, is in full moult, the new feathers being 

 dark grey. It is not very creditable to British ornithologists that this 



