MANX SHEARWATER 337 



breeding-stations in the Channel and along the west coast of Great 

 IJi-itidn, and a few on islands off the coast of Ireland; but its 

 principal colonies are on St. Kilda, the sea-bird's paradise. Like 

 the stormy petrel, the shearwater is nocturnal in its habits during 

 the summer, feeding by night, and remaining concealed in its bur- 

 rows during the day. In winter it seeks its food at all hours. It 

 has the same habits as the stormy petrel of dropping its feet and 

 paddling in the water, while sustained by its motionless, outspread 

 wings. Its name of shearwater is derived from its custom of gliding 

 along very close to the surface. Seebohm likens it to ' a gigantic 

 swift ' in appearance as it careers to and fro over the waves when 

 the gale is at its height. Except when breeding its whole time is 

 spent on the open sea : it is as truly at home on the stormy Atlantic, 

 a thousand miles from the nearest land, as is the blackbird in its 

 favourite shrubbery or the sedentary owl in its hollow beech-tree. 

 But it remains longer at its breeding-grounds than the other species. 

 At St. Kilda it begins to arrive as early as February, and remains 

 until the end of the summer. It forms a burrow, often of great 

 depth, in the peaty soil, and lays a single egg, pure white, and smooth 

 in texture. According to Dixon, the birds are very garrulous at 

 night, uttering their peculiar notes both when flying and in their 

 nesting-holes ; the syllables ' Kitty-coo-roo ' are given by this 

 author in imitation of the notes. 



The sooty shearwater (Puffinws griseus) and the greater shear- 

 water (P. 'major) are occasionally met with in autumn and winter 

 on the British coasts. A third species, the dusky shearwater (P. 

 obscurus), has a place in the list of British birds, two specimens 

 having been obtained in the United Kingdom. 



Fulmar. 



Fulmarus glacialis. 



Bill yellow ; legs and feet grey ; mantle and tail grey ; quills 

 dusky ; head, neck, and under parts white. Length, nineteen 

 inches. 



The fulmar is the largest of the petrels ; it exceeds the black- 

 headed gull and common gull in size, and is a giant by comparison 

 with its diminutive relation, the stormy petrel. It is a dreumpolar 



