140 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



most primaries. The bill also is slender, slightly 

 turned upwards, and this mark will be visible a long- 

 way off.] 



-^ Fulmarus glacialis (Linn.). Fulmar. 



Native names: 'Fyll,' 'Fill,' 'Fylungr/ 'Fylingr,' 

 ' Fyluugi.' It should be spelt ' fy-', not ' fi-', as it is 

 apparently from ' full ' = ' lazy,' and the termina- 

 tions 'ungr,' etc., probably = ' young.' The name 

 ' Fulmar ' is also used, and occurs in the HallfreSar 

 Saga. 



Resident and abundant all round the coasts, breeding 

 in colonies here and there, as in the Vestmannaeyjar 

 and at Grimsey, etc. Its stiff and ungraceful, but 

 apparently almost effortless flight is a common, and 

 sometimes the only, object visible from the steamers 

 to and from Iceland. 



The single egg is laid on a cliff-ledge, or a turf area 

 in the middle of a cliff; it is white (to begin with), 

 rough in texture, with a persistent musky smell, and 

 variable in size — my own specimens (from Grimsey) 

 vary from 2f inches to nearly 3|- inches in length. 



The Fulmar is silvery white, with grey mantle and 

 tail, and sooty flight-feathers; bill yellow, with dark 

 nostril-tubes along its upper ridge. Length 19 inches, 

 wing 12 i inches. Flight stiff, by which the bird may 

 be distinguished from a gull a mile off, or more. 



Occasionally one of the ' dark form ' of Fulmar may 

 be seen ; it is of a dusky grey all over, and Professor 



