PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 387 



" when the mackerel are in these birds are much in evidence," it is said, and 

 hundreds have been observed in July (cf. Gladstone, B. of Dumfries., 1910, p. 471 ; 

 and Forrest, Fauna of N. Wales, 1907, pp. 414-16). In Ireland it is resident, but 

 decreases considerably in winter : assemblages of from a hundred and fifty to two 

 hundred birds were seen off the Skullmartin Lightship (near the coast of Co. Down) 

 on the early morning of 18th July 1904 (cf. Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, 

 p. 392 ; and R. L. Patterson, Irish Naturalist, 1904, p. 171). Gregarious, as 

 already implied : sometimes recorded from the light-stations (cf. Nelson, loc. cit.). 

 [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. This shearwater breeds in burrows, sometimes in the 

 face of perpendicular cliffs where there are grassy ledges and strips of turf, at other 

 times on sloping banks, in some cases up to two thousand feet, or on practically 

 flat ground. Many of these burrows are undoubtedly excavated by the birds 

 themselves, as they are in positions where no rabbit could possibly gain access, 

 but others are adapted to the purpose, or enlarged. They run to a depth of a foot 

 or two or more, and a slight nest of dry grasses is constructed. (PL LXXIV.) Oswin 

 Lee states that both sexes share in the work of making the burrow. Only a single 

 egg is laid, which is white, without gloss, and smooth in texture. (PI. V.) Average 

 size of 51 eggs, 2-39 x T67 in. [60'9 x 42'5 mm.]. Both sexes take part in incuba- 

 tion, and males have frequently been taken on the egg by Faber and others. The 

 period is estimated by Hantzsch at a month, the young being fed by its parents 

 for six or seven weeks longer. The breeding season begins early in May, but fresh 

 eggs may be met with up to mid-June, especially where the birds have been dis- 

 turbed. Only one young bird is reared in the season. [F. o. B. J.] 



5. Food. Surface fish, small cuttle-fish, and other free-swimming Mollusca, 

 surface-swimming Crustacea, and offal. The young are fed on regurgitated green 

 oil, and by both parents, [w. p. P.] 



FULMAR [Fulmarus glacidlis (Linnaeus). Mollymauk, mollymew; mallimoke 

 (Shetlands). French, petrel fulmar ; German, Eis-Sturmvogel ; Italian, no 

 popular name]. 



I. Description. The fulmar, while presenting a general resemblance to a 

 gull, may at once be distinguished by the tubular nasal passage and the compound 

 character of the beak-sheath which is of the typical petrel type. The sexes are 

 alike, and there is no seasonal change of coloration. (PI. 174.) Length 17 in. 



