620 LARID^E. 



the edges of both mandibles sharp and cutting ; those of the lower mandible shut- 

 ting just within those above. Nostrils prominent along the upper ridge of the 

 upper mandible, but united, enclosed, and somewhat hidden within a tube with a 

 single external orifice, within which the division between the two nasal openings 

 is visible. Feet moderate, tarsi compressed ; three toes in front united by mem- 

 branes, hind toe very small, rudimentary. Wings rather long, the first and 

 second quill-feathers nearly equal in length, and the longest in the wing. 



THE FULMAR PETREL is only a winter- visiter to the 

 more southern parts of England, and the specimens ob- 

 tained, even at that season of the year, are but few in 

 number ; some of these, and the localities in which they 

 were obtained, will be referred to hereafter. Gr. C. Atkin- 

 son, Esq., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as described by Mr. 

 Hewitson, met with these birds in great numbers on the 

 islands of St. Kilda, Borrera, and Soa, and was informed 

 that they also breed in the south isles of Barra, in the 

 outer Hebrides. St. Kilda has been long noted as the 

 principal breeding-place, and the following account was 

 given in a recent number of the Edinburgh New Philoso- 

 phical Journal by Mr. John Macgillivray, who visited St. 

 Kilda, in June, 1840 : " This bird exists here in almost 

 incredible numbers, and to the natives is by far the most 

 important of the productions of the island. It forms one 

 of the principal means of support to the inhabitants, who 

 daily risk their lives in its pursuit. The Fulmar breeds on 

 the face of the highest precipices, and only on such as are 

 furnished with small grassy shelves, every spot on which, 

 above a few inches in extent, is occupied with one or more 

 of its nests. The nest is formed of herbage, seldom bulky, 

 generally a mere shallow excavation in the turf, lined with 

 dried grass, and the withered tufts of the sea-pink, in which 

 the bird deposits a single egg, of a pure white colour when 

 clean, which is seldom the case, and varying in size from 

 two inches seven lines, to three inches one line in length, 



