n 4 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



platform, on every ledge, and on every projection,. 

 the Fulmars cluster in one busy, active throng. 

 When the birds are disturbed from the rocks, 

 the scene is most impressively grand ; the vast,. 

 seething cloud of birds darkening the air, and 

 seeming as though they would descend en masse, 

 and literally overwhelm us by the sheer force of 

 their countless numbers. But little noise is heard, 

 save the rushing sound made by the myriad 

 wings ; for the Fulmar is a very silent bird, and 

 never utters a note of protest when its home is 

 invaded. The Fulmar is jealously guarded by 

 the natives of St. Kilda ; it pays their rent, and 

 supplies them with food and oil. The eggs are 

 taken in vast quantities every spring ; and in the 

 late summer months the great event of the year 

 at St. Kilda takes place, when the Fulmar harvest 

 is gathered. The young birds are taken just 

 before they are able to fly, and as many old ones 

 as possible are knocked down or snared. For 

 days St. Kilda is literally buried in dead Fulmars. 

 The whole population, of some seventy souls, 

 talk of nothing else, gather nothing else ; and the 

 strong smell from the birds and feathers is almost 

 overpowering to a stranger. Several other very 

 interesting birds also make these islands their 

 nom e. One of them is the Manx Shearwater, a 



ay to islh species of Petrel that breeds on one of the islets 

 in such numbers as to literally undermine the 

 ground, making its nest at the end of a long 

 burrow, in which it lays a single white egg. 



