The Fulmars 113 



Guadeloupe Island, in the Lesser Antilles, has been captured, probably just after 

 a tropical hurricane, in Virginia, over 200 miles from the sea, in New York 

 State, and also in Hungary. That the Petrels, strong flying as they are, are 

 frequently destroyed during storms, is well shown by Buller in his " Birds of New 

 Zealand." He says regarding the little Dove Petrel: "This charming little Petrel 

 is extremely abundant off our coasts, and I have often observed flocks of them 

 on the wing together numbering many hundreds. In boisterous weather it 

 appears to suffer more than any other ocean species from the fury of the tempest, 

 and the sea beach is sometimes found literally strewn with the bodies of the dead 

 and dying. I have frequently watched them battling, as it were, with the storm, 



FIG. 34. Giant Fulmar, Macronectes gigantea. 



till at length, unable longer to keep to windward, they have been mercilessly 

 blown down upon the sands, and, being unable from sheer exhaustion to rise 

 on the wing again, have been beaten to death by the rolling surf or pounced upon 

 and devoured by a hovering Sea-Gull." 



Fulmars. The present family is often divided into a number of more or 

 less well marked subfamilies, the first of which (the Fulmarina) embraces the 

 Fulmars and their immediate allies, and of which the Giant Fulmar, or Cape Hen 

 (Macronectes gigantea), may be taken as the type. This species, the sole representa- 

 tive of its genus, is but little inferior to the Albatrosses, being from thirty to thirty- 

 six inches in length, and having a spread of wings from seventy-two to eighty- 

 four inches. It is distinguished at once by its great size, by the very long and 

 stout nasal tubes, and tail of sixteen feathers. There are two well-marked phases 

 of plumage, a so-called light phase, in which the head, neck, and lower parts are 



