Mr John MacGillivray on the Island of St Kilda. 61 
bers, and to the natives is by far the most important of the 
productions of the island. It forms one of the principal means 
of support to the inhabitants, who daily risk their lives in its 
pursuit. The fulmar breeds on the face of the highest preci- 
pices, and only on such as are furnished with small grassy 
shelves, every spot on which above a few inches in extent is 
occupied with one or more of its nests. The nest is formed of 
herbage, seldom bulky, generally a mere shallow excavation 
in the turf, lined with dried grass, and the withered tufts of 
the sea-pink, in which the bird deposits a single egg, of a pure 
white colour when clean, which is seldom the case, and vary- 
ing in size from 2 in. 7 lines, to 3 in. 1} 1. in length, and 1 in. 
11 1. to 2 inches in breadth. On the 30th of June, having 
partially descended a nearly perpendicular precipice 600 feet 
in height, the whole face of which was covered with the nests 
of the fulmar, I enjoyed an opportunity of observing the ha- 
bits of this bird, which has fallen to the lot of few of those 
who have described them, as if from personal observation. 
The nests had all been robbed about a month before by the 
natives, who esteem the eggs of this species above all others ; 
those of the auk, guillemot, kittiwake, and puffin, ranking next, 
and the gannet, scart, and cormorant, last of all. Many of the 
nests contained each a young bird a day or two old at farthest, 
thickly covered with long white down. Such of the eggs as 
I examined #m situ, had a small aperture at the broad end, 
at which the bill of the chick was visible, sometimes protrud- 
ing a little way. Several addle eggs also occurred. The 
young birds were very clamorous on being handled, and vo- 
mited a quantity of clear oil, with which I sometimes observed 
the parent birds feeding them by disgorging it. The ful- 
mar is stated in most works on ornithology to possess the 
power of ejecting oil with much force through its tubular 
nostrils, using this as a mode of defence; but although I 
surprised several upon the nest, I never observed them at- 
tempt this. On being seized, they instantly vomit a quan- 
tity of clear amber-coloured oil, which imparts to the whole 
bird, its nest and young, and even the very rock which it 
frequents, a peculiar and very disagreeable odour. Fulmar 
oil is among the most valuable productions of St Kilda, and 
