246 BRITISH’ SEA BIRDS: 
the breeding season. It is the bird of all others 
characteristic of the place; one is reminded of its 
presence in many ways, but most persistently by 
the strong smell emitted by this and all birds of 
the Petrel family, and which scents everything and 
every person on the islands. The Fulmar is ex- 
tremely gregarious during the breeding season, and 
many thousands of birds congregate here during 
the summer. It is also exceedingly attached to 
its breeding places, visiting them season by season, 
for time out of mind, and very probably pairs for 
life. At St. Kilda, its favourite nesting places are 
on the downlike cliffs, places where the soil is deep 
and loamy, and allows the bird to excavate a hollow 
_of varying depth. But there is not sufficient accom- 
modation of this kind for all, and great numbers 
have to resort to the ledges, crevices, and hollows 
on the face of the beetling cliffs, or find a site in 
some cranny amongst the rough piled-up masses 
of rock. Wherever possible, the Fulmar evidently 
likes to burrow into the ground, but the hole in 
most cases is not big enough to conceal the bird. 
These hollows are lined with a little dry grass, but 
in many instances a nest of no kind is made. Some 
of the nests I examined on the bare ledges of the 
cliffs, were made of small bits of rock. Vast 
numbers of nests are made close together, and 
from a distance the sitting birds—all blended 
together—look like patches of snow. The Fulmar 
lays but a single egg each season, white in colour, 
