526 NATATORES. PROCELLARIA. PETREL, 



sential point, therefore, that they should be taken and killed 

 by surprise, in order to prevent the loss of a liquid so requi- 

 site for the comfort of the inhabitants, by supplying them 

 with the necessary fuel for their lamps. The Fulmar is of 

 Food, voracious appetite, feeding upon all sorts of animal substance, 

 particularly of an oily nature, such as the blubber of whales, 

 seals, &c. ; and for this purpose, it follows in great numbers 

 the track of the whale vessels, and is so greedy of its favour- 

 ite food, as to be often seen alighting upon the wounded 

 animal, when not quite dead, and immediately proceeding to 

 break the skin with its strong hooked bill, and gorging itself 

 with the blubber to repletion. Upon the banks of New- 

 foundland it is also a constant attendant upon the fishing- 

 vessels. Here it is known by the appellation of John Down, 

 living luxuriously upon the liver and offal of the cod-fish ; 

 and is often taken alive by a hook baited with a piece of the 

 liver or flesh. During the summer its polar migration ex- 

 tends to very high latitudes. Captain SABINE states it to 

 be abundant at all times in Davis 1 Straits and Baffin's Bay ; 

 and the same author, in his Memoirs of the Birds of Green- 

 land, observes, that whilst the ships were detained by ice in 

 Jacob's Bay, latitude 71, from the 24th of June to the 3d 

 of July, Fulmars were passing in a continual stream to the 

 northward, in numbers inferior only to the flight of the pas- 

 senger pigeon in North America. From the extent of its 

 wings the Fulmar flies with great buoyancy, and is seldom 

 seen near the shore, except during the period of reproduc- 

 tion ; at other times remaining out at sea, and seeking its 

 repose by floating upon the surface of the water. 



PLATE 102. Fig. 1. Represents the Adult bird of the natu- 

 ral size. 



General Bill bright gamboge-yellow, with the nasal tube inclining 



tion to saffron-yellow, very strong and powerful. Irides 



Adult bird. pale king's-yellow. Head, neck, rump, tail, and under 



parts of the body pure white. Mantle, scapulars, wing- 



