THE FULMAR PETREL. 413 



literally walking on the water. It is on this account that 

 they have been called petrels, or little Peters. They lay only 

 egg, of a large size. 



The petrels are sea birds in the most literal sense of the 

 word ; they live in the sea for the greater part of the year, 

 and only resort to the shores in summer for the purpose of 

 breeding. They may, therefore, be considered as summer 

 vistants in all countries ; and not to claim more from the 

 land than merely a place on which to deposit their eggs. 

 The same species, and possibly the same individual birds, 

 range along the whole latitudinal stretch of the sea, probably 

 from the arctic circle to the antarctic, although in the ex- 

 treme north and also in the extreme south, they trench upon 

 the domains of birds of more polar character. 



Of the genus procellaria, as limited by modern ornitholo- 

 gists, there is only one British species. 



THE FULMAR PETREL (Procellaria fflacialis). 



The Fulmar Petrel appears in the north, but only in the 

 remote islands, and in greater numbers than perhaps any 

 other species of bird. The fulmar petrels are the grand 

 scavengers of the sea ; they consume all the multifarious 

 remains of animals and animal garbage, generally of a rank 

 and oily character, which casualties are constantly committing 

 to the water. They attend the fishing stations and fishing 

 vessels, and fight for their share of the garbage of the fish and 

 that of whales, being most daring thieves of the latter. They 

 resort to the lofty cliffs of the remote islands, St. Kilda in 

 particular, to breed ; but they also find their way to Shetland 

 and Orkney in the winter, when the progress of the ice cir- 

 cumscribes their territorial range towards the north. There is 

 hardly a place or a season, indeed, within the expanse of the 

 North Seas, in which, if there be any thing animal, especially 

 if oily or fat, to be eaten, but a cloud of fulmars will come to 



