PROCELLARID/E. 



PROCELLARID^E. 



458 



their young only during the night, with the oily food which they raise 

 from their stomachs. At these times they are heard through most 

 parts of the night, making a continued cluttering sound like frogs. 

 In June and July, or about the time that they breed, they are still 

 seen out at sea for scores of leagues from the land, the swiftness of 

 their flight allowing them daily to make these vast excursions in quest 

 of their ordinary prey ; and hence, besides their suspicious appearance 

 in braving storms, as if aided by the dark ruler of the air, they breed, 

 according to the vulgar opinion of sailors, like no other honest bird, 

 for taking no time for the purpose on land, they merely hatch their 

 egtt under their wings, as they sit on the water ! " 



Fulmar us (Leach). Mr. G. R. Gray gives Wagellus (Ray) as the generic 

 name of this form, and Linnseus quotes Wagellits Cornubientium as a 

 synonym of the species which we are about to illustrate. 



Head and foot of Fulmar. 



/'. g'acialit. This is the Proccllaria glacialis of Liunaons and authors ; 

 Le Petrel Fulmar and Pe"trel de 1'lle de Saint Kilda of Buffon ; Hav- 

 hest of the Norwegians, by whom it appears to be also called Mallemoke, 

 or Hullemoke; Gwjlan y Graig of the Welsh; Fulmar and Fulmar 

 Petrel of the English, by whom it ia also named (provincixlly) Malle- 

 muck, Malmoke, and Mallduck. 



This species has been considered the type of the restricted genus 

 Procellaria, Linn., by those who confine the subdivision of that genus 

 to the genera Procellaria, Puffinus, and Thalatiidroma. The bill of 

 the Fulmar is stout, thick, with the upper mandible considerably 

 hooked at the tip (where it is also dilated) and sulcated. The lower 

 mandible is straight and slightly truncated. The nostrils are united 

 in a single tube. The legs are moderate, and a sharp claw exists in 

 the pla'io of a hind toe. 



,. 



Fulmar 1'clrcl (Fulmarlu flacialii). 



The head, neck, all the lower parts, rump, and tail pure white ; back, 

 icpuliirs, wing-coverts and secondaries, pure bluish-ash ; quills bright- 



gray brown ; tail well rounded, conical ; bill bright-yellow tinged with 

 orange on the nasal tube ; iris and feet yellow. Length 16 inches. 

 (Both sexes, summer plumage.) 



Young of the Year. The whole body bright-gray clouded with 

 brown ; feathers of the wings and tail terminated by a deeper browu ; 

 the quills and caudal feathers have only a tinge of gray-brown ; in front 

 of the eyes au angular black spot ; bill and feet yellowish-ash. 

 (Temminck.) 



It inhabits the Polar Regions principally during summer. Mr. Gould 

 (' Birds of Europe ') observes, that although the Polar Regions consti- 

 tute its native locality, it is nevertheless found, but in much less 

 abundance, in more temperate climates, such as the northern seas of 

 Europe and America, extending itself throughout the lengthened 

 coast of Norway, and not unfrequeutly Holland and France. It 

 frequents also, he adds, the northern isles of Great Britaiu, resorting 

 to the Orkneys and Hebrides for the purpose of breeding, but 

 particularly to the island of St. Kilda. 



Temminck states that the Fulmar never comes to the coast except 

 for the purposes of nesting, or when driven there by gales. Its flight 

 is easy and buoyant. Besides the flesh and blubber of dead whales or 

 seals, for penetrating whose thick skins their trenchant and hooked 

 upper mandible is admirably formed, barnacles aud other parasites 

 which attach themselves to the whales, molluscs, &c., form their food. 

 The Fulmar attends the fishing-vessels on the banks of Newfoundland, 

 where it is called John Down, for the offal of the cod-fish, and is 

 often taken with a hook baited with a piece of cod's liver or flesh. 

 At St. Kilda they breed gregariously in the caverns and holes of the 

 rocks ; a single white large egg, with a very brittle shell, is deposited 

 by the female, and the young, which are hatched about the middle of 

 June, are fed with oily matter disgorged by the parents. As soon as 

 they are fledged they are eagerly sought by ths cragsmen, who scal 

 the precipitous cliffs for them at the risk of their lives for the sake of 

 their down, feathers, and oil. 



Procellaria (Linn.).- -The type of this genus, as restricted by 

 Mr. G. R. Gray, is P. aquinoctialit (Linn.), the Great Black Petrel of 

 Edwards. 



-f 



v., I" i'RF > 



Great Black Petrel (Proccllaria tryuinoclialia). 



Mr. Darwin, in his valuable ' Journal and Remarks ' (' Voyage ot 

 Adventure and Beagle'), observes that the southern seas visited by the 

 expedition are frequented by several species of Petrels. The largest 

 kind, P. yigantea, or Nelly (Quebrantahuesos, or Break-Bones, of the 

 Spaniards), is, he observes, a common bird, both in the inland channels 

 and on the open sea. " In its habits and manner of flight," continues 

 Mr. Darwin, " there is a very close resemblance with the Albatross, 

 and, as with the latter bird, a person may watch it for hours together 

 without seeing on what it feeds, so it is with this Petrel. The Break- 

 Bones is however a rapacious bird, for it was observed by some of the 

 officers at Port San Antonio chasing a diver. The bird tried to escape, 

 both by diving and flying, but it was continually struck down, and at 

 last killed by a blow on its head. At Port St. Julian also these great 

 petrels were seen killing and devouring young gulls." The same 

 author adds, that the Spaniards were probably aware of the rapacity 

 of this petrel, for Quebrantahuesos means properly au osprey. These 

 large petrels are called Mother Carey's Geese by the sailors. 



The species of the genus Diomedca, the Albatrosses, will be found 

 under the articles DIOMEDEINJJ and ALBATROSS. Remains of a fossil 

 bird having the characters of an Albatross have been found in Great 

 Britain. [BIRDS.] 



Pi-ion (Lacdpede), Padyptila of Illiger. Bill strong, stout, wide, 

 very much depressed, the upper mandible convex on its sides, termi- 

 nated by a compressed hook; the eclg.'S furnished internally with 

 cartilaginous lamollro; the lower inaudible very much depressed, 



