FULMAR PETREL. 433 



Connacher, a few Fulmars were to be seen sailing in graceful flight above 

 the cliff, then dropping down again into space. When I reached the 

 summit the scene was grand ; tens of thousands of Fulmars were flying 

 silently about in all directions, but never by any chance soaring over 

 the land ; they passed backwards and forwards along the face of the cliff 

 and for some considerable distance out to sea, whilst the waves a thousand 

 feet below were dotted thickly with floating birds. The silence of such an 

 animated scene impressed me : not a single Fulmar uttered a cry, but 

 lower down the cliffs Kittiwakes were noisy enough. No bird flies more 

 gracefully than the Fulmar ; it seems to float in the air without any exer- 

 tion, often passing to and fro for minutes together with no perceptible 

 movement of its wings ; and I repeatedly saw a bird, head to wind, quite 

 motionless for several seconds, the stiff breeze ruffling a few of its scapu- 

 lars and neck-feathers. It is a remarkably tame bird, fluttering along 

 within a few feet of you, its black eye glistening sharply against its snow- 

 white dress. Sometimes I saw it hover like a Kestrel, or turn round com- 

 pletely in the air, as if on a pivot. But the Fulmars in the air are soon 

 left to themselves, and all attention directed to those sitting quietly on 

 their nests. In some parts of the cliffs, where the soil is loose and turf- 

 grown, the ground is almost white with sitting Fulmars. Every available 

 spot is a Fulmar nest ; and as you explore the cliffs, large numbers of 

 birds fly out from all directions where they had not previously been 

 noticed. The Fulmar begins to lay about the middle of May, and I was 

 told that the young are able to fly in July. It very rarely burrows deep 

 enough in the ground to conceal itself whilst incubating, and, in the 

 majority of cases, only makes a hole large enough to half conceal itself, 

 whilst in a great many instances it is content to lay its eggs under some 

 projecting tuft, or even on the bare and exposed ledge of a cliff, in a 

 similar place to that so often selected by the Guillemot. I imagine that 

 the bird makes a small excavation wherever it can; but there are not 

 suitable places for all, and great numbers have to breed in unfavourable 

 positions. The nests are very slight, and in a great number of instances are 

 dispensed with altogether. I found several eggs of the Fulmar on Doon 

 in rather peculiar nests ; they were placed on the rock-ledges in the most 

 inaccessible part of this precipitous and rugged island, and were made 

 entirely of small bits of rock, a neat hollow being formed in which the 

 single egg was laid. A little dry grass was the only material I found the 

 Fulmar use in making its nest, with the exception just alluded to. I took 

 eggs from both descriptions of nest, and also from places where no nest 

 whatever had been made for their accommodation. 



" I accompanied Donald McQueen, the best cragsman on the island, on 

 several occasions to the cliffs to see his method of catching Fulmars. All 



