- 2 4 BRITISH BIRDS WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



Bay of St. Kilda, many more Fulmars come into sight ; for these birds breed 

 upon the rocky escarpments of the Dune, as well as upon the grassy ledges which 

 traverse the towering precipices at the back of the main island. The Fulmar is 

 not resident at St. Kilda throughout the year, since its wandering habits induce 

 it to rove far and wide like a veritable sea rover at all such times as it can spare 

 from the duties of reproduction. But during the spring and summer months 

 the species is represented at St. Kilda by thousands of birds. Both the eggs 

 and birds, old and young alike, are of great assistance to the tenants, who 

 follow the Fulmar into the most difficult places in the rocks. For the Fulmar 

 is a rock-dweller, and fixes its retreat in precisely the position that is least 

 accessible to those who are likely to endeavour to plunder its nest. 



The breeding season of the St. Kilda Fulmars probably commences much 

 earlier in the year than that of such individuals as nest in high latitudes. The 

 nest of the Fulmar is a slight scratching or hollow on a shelf of rock or bank of 

 turf, and difficult to reach. Mr. C. Kearton assured us, when at St. Kilda in 1896, 

 that he had newly climbed to about fifty nests of the Fulmar, and he noticed 

 that nearly every nesting-place the birds often nest within a yard or so of 

 their next neighbours was lined with small fragments of rock, which had 

 apparently been carried there by the parent bird. In two or three cases the 

 egg was deposited upon the bare ground or rock, with only one or two chips 

 on the outside. Macgillivray described the Fulmar as only nesting on grassy 

 shelfs of the precipices, and lining the nest with dried grass and withered tufts 

 of sea-pinks, and as he spoke from a personal descent of the cliffs, his 

 experience must be perfectly reliable, relating no doubt to the Fulmar- preserves 

 upon Connacher, where I also observed Puffins breeding ; the precise nature of 

 the lining of the nest therefore varies with the situation. The first eggs are laid 

 about the middle of May ; many of these are taken for food, though whether a 

 bird which has been robbed lays a second time in the same season does not seem 

 to have been positively ascertained. All the eggs that I ever saw at St. Kilda 

 were of a dirty white, and measured about three inches in length. The Rev. 

 M. A. Mathew informs me that he once obtained a red variety of the egg of 

 the Fulmar, from among a number that had been taken in St. Kilda. The 

 period of incubation required by the egg of the Fulmar does not appear to have 

 been recorded as yet. It has been estimated as occupying a month and as 

 extending to eight weeks ; the truth probably lies between these two surmises. 

 Macgillivray found young birds only a day or two old on the 3Oth of June, 

 while I obtained young birds in down, apparently from two to six days old, upon 

 the loth of July ; so that the beginning of July may be taken as approximating 



