CAPE FULMAR. 159 



Characters. Besides the generic characters given above, this 

 species is unmistakable from its black and white spotted 

 appearance. 



Range in Great Britain. Only one specimen has been 

 noted from our seas, an individual having been recorded by 

 Mr. A. G. More as killed near Dublin in October, 1881. 



Range outside the British Islands. This Petrel has been said to 

 have occurred on three occasions off the coast of France. 

 Otherwise it is known only as a strictly southern species, 

 ranging as high as Ceylon and to iabout lat. 5 S. on the 

 coast of Peru. 



Habits. The " Cape Pigeon," as this bird is usually called, 

 is a well-known inhabitant of the southern seas, where its 

 habit of following ships is remarked by every ocean traveller. 

 Mr. Gould, during his celebrated voyage to Australia, made 

 the following notes : " This Martin among the Petrels is 

 extremely tame, passing immediately under the stern and 

 settling down close to the sides of the ship if fat of any kind 

 or other oily substance be thrown overboard. Swims lightly, 

 but rarely exercises its natatorial powers except to procure food, 

 in pursuit of which it occasionally dives for a moment or two. 

 Nothing can be more graceful than its motions while on the 

 wing, with the neck shortened, and the legs entirely hidden 

 among the feathers of the under tail-coverts. Like the other 

 Petrels, it ejects, when irritated, an oily fluid from its mouth. 

 Its feeble note of ' cac, cac, cac, cac ' is frequently uttered, 

 the third, says Captain Hutton, being pronounced the quickest. 

 Its weight varies from fourteen to eighteen ounces ; there is no 

 difference in the weight of the sexes, neither is there any 

 visible variation in their colouring, nor do they appear to be 

 subject to any seasonal change." 



Nest. Sir Joseph Hooker states that this species was found 

 by him breeding in Kerguelen Land. He says : " It nests in 

 sheltered ledges of cliffs about 50 or 100 feet above the level 

 of the sea." 



Unknown, 



