246 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



the breeding season. It is the bird of all others 

 characteristic of the place ; one is reminded of its 

 presence in many ways, but most persistently by 

 the strong smell emitted by this and all birds of 

 the Petrel family, and which scents everything and 

 every person on the islands. The Fulmar is ex- 

 tremely gregarious during the breeding season, and 

 many thousands of birds congregate here during 

 the summer. It is also exceedingly attached to 

 its breeding places, visiting them season by season, 

 for time out of mind, and very probably pairs for 

 life. At St. Kilda, its favourite nesting places are 

 on the downlike cliffs, places where the soil is deep 

 and loamy, and allows the bird to excavate a hollow 

 of varying depth. But there is not sufficient accom- 

 modation of this kind for all, and great numbers 

 have to resort to the ledges, crevices, and hollows 

 on the face of the beetling cliffs, or find a site in 

 some cranny amongst the rough piled-up masses 

 of rock. Wherever possible, the Fulmar evidently 

 likes to burrow into the ground, but the hole in 

 most cases is not big enough to conceal the bird. 

 These hollows are lined with a little dry grass, but 

 in many instances a nest of no kind is made. Some 

 of the nests I examined on the bare ledges of the 

 cliffs, were made of small bits of rock. Vast 

 numbers of nests are made close together, and 

 from a distance the sitting birds all blended 

 together look like patches of snow. The Fulmar 

 lays but a single egg each season, white in colour, 



