154 



NEW YORK STATE JIUSEUM 



over the entire ocean, the petrels, or Mother Carey's chickens, and albatrosses 

 being among the best known of birds. There is an tmusual range in size 

 in this order from the Stormy petrel, the smallest of natatorial birds, to the 

 Giant albatross whose wing expanse is unsurpassed in the whole bird king- 

 dom. The}' have no equals in the power of flight, even among the Longi- 

 pennes, practically living in the air and snatching their food of marine 

 animals and oily matter from the surface of the sea. Authorities are at 

 variance as to the number of families bi:t four are iisuall)' recognized. 

 The albatrosses (Diomedeidae) and diving petrels (Pelecanoididae) are 

 not found in the nearctic region. 



Family PUFFIN IIDA.E 



Fulmars, Shearwaters and Petrels 



Medium or large in size; first primary as long or longer than second; 

 basipterygoids present; coracoids short, with broad bases and widely diverg- 

 ing axes ; hypocleidium of f urcula short ; sternum with uneven posterior 

 margin. 



The fulmars (Fulmarinae) have the bill stout, the nasal tubes promi- 

 nent with a thin partition between them, the under mandible not hooked, 

 the upper mandible with rudimentary or well developed lamellae, and the 

 tail of 14 or 16 feathers. The shearwaters and petrels (Puffininae) have 

 the under mandible hooked, the tubes low with thickened partitions, no 

 lammellae, and the tail of 12 feathers. 



Fulmarus glacialis (Linnaeus) 



Fulmar 



Procellaria glacialis Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. 1766. Ed. 12. i: 213 

 Fulmarus glacialis A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1S95. ^°- 86 



jid'marus from Eng. fulmar; glacia'lis, of the ice 



Description. Head, neck and under parts white; mantle pearl-gray; Viill greenish yellow; feet 

 gray, or yellowish; quills ashy brown. Dark phase: Upper parts smoky gray, somewhat paler below. 



Length 18-20 inches; wing 12. 5-13. 5; tail 4.5-5; bill 1.3-1.8; averag'e 1.5; depth of bill .75; 

 tarsus 2. 



The Fulmar, or Noddy, of the north Atlantic has been taken in winter as far south as Massachu- 

 setts and New Jersey, although we can find no valid record of its occurrence within the limits of 

 New York State. It is undoubtedly an occasional winter visitant off our coast where it might easily 

 be overlooked by the inexperienced because of its general resemblance to the common gull. 



