Birds of Spitsbergen, 595 



one or two iu muffled toothed traps. One of these settled 

 down at once and fed readily. When I was alone in Dickson's 

 Eay two pairs nesting there were astonishingly valiant. Each 

 time I passed their nesting-ground they set at me^ not stooping 

 from a height as a Gull does, but each in turn coming straight 

 at one^s face with a long wing-stroke and a rapid level flight, 

 so that it demanded some little resolution not to duck one's 

 head. But when about a yard from my face they always 

 '^ threw up " and passed over my head with a wind, and so 

 close that I touched them on several occasions with my hand. 

 Each bird kept crying incessantly until the moment came for 

 the straight fly-in, and then it stopped and came on silently. 

 The Norwegians call this bird '' kiivia " or '^ tjuvo," from 

 its call. 



- 24. FuLMARUs GLACiALis (Linn.). Fulmar Petrel. 



Mariners have clustered I know not what superstitions 

 about this uncanny bird. The first impression it must make 

 upon a voyager to Northern seas is of a voiceless, tireless 

 presence, going on hour after hour, with round anxious eyes, 

 like some brooding Genius looking for lost souls — or bodies. 

 But in the neiglibourhood of a nesting colony — e.g. under 

 the Capitolium in Eckman Bay, where numbers nest — it is a 

 very different bird. Here, especially in fine weather, numbers 

 of them are always on the water and washing constantly. I 

 know of no bird that prolongs its bath as the Fulmar does; 

 and while this is going on they are so engrossed as to allow 

 a boat's nose almost to touch them before they move away. 

 Old Petterson, my companion, always maintained that it was 

 very necessary for it to wash : it was " such a dirty bird." 

 Foreigners are said on the same grounds to have given a 

 similar character to Englishmen. 



I cannot find any reference to the Fulmar's voice. I have 

 never heard it make any sound when on the wing, but when 

 at rest on the water in quiet weather it frequently utters a 

 complacent croak. Scoresby, as quoted in Yarrell, refers to 

 a " chuckling " sound induced by guzzling. A white whale 

 which we killed and skinned was rapidly devoured by Glaucous 



