7502 Birds. 



Egg, 1. White. Sir Wm. Milner in the ' Zoologist,' Mr. Hewitson 

 in his ' Oology,' and Mr. Macgillivray in the ' Edinburgh New Philo- 

 sophical Journal,' have severally given some account of the nesting of 

 the fulmar. I quote from Mr. Macgillivray's : — " The fulmar exists 

 in St. Kilda in almost incredible quantities, and to the natives is by 

 far the most important production of the island. It forms one of the 

 principal means of support to the inhabitants, who daily risk their lives 

 in i*s pursuit. The fulmar breeds on the face of the highest preci- 

 pices, and only such as are furnished with small grassy shelves, every 

 spot of which, above a ievf inches in extent, is occupied by one or 

 more of its nests. The nest is formed of herbage, seldom bulky, 

 generally a mere shallow excavation in the turf, lined with dried 

 grass and the withered tufts of the sea-pink, in which the bird de- 

 posits a single egg, of a pure white colour when clean, which is sel- 

 dom the case, and varying in size from 2 inches 7 lines to 3 inches 

 1 line in length, by 2 inches in breadth. On the -SOth June, having 

 partially descended a nearly perpendicular precipice 600 feet in height, 

 the whole face of which was covered with nests of the fulmar, I* 

 enjoyed an opportunity of watching the habits of this bird, and 

 describe from personal observation. The nests had all been robbed 

 about a month before by the natives, who esteem the eggs of this 

 species above all others. Many of the nests contained each a young 

 bird a day or two old at the farthest, thickly covered with long white 

 down. The young birds were very clamorous on being handled, and 

 vomited a quantity of clear oil, with which I sometimes observed the 

 parent birds feeding them by disgorging it." 



Manx Sheakwater, Pvffinus Anglorum. 



Situation. On the ground in the Orkney Islands and Scilly Islands, 



Materials. A little dried fern : the bird scratches a hole between 

 two stones or in crevices of the rocks, or makes a burrow in the sand. 

 " The egg is frequently deposited on the fine sandy soil without any 

 preparation, though generally there is a slight accumulation of fern- 

 leaves and old stems. They produce but one egg, which, when laid, 

 is of the most dazzling whiteness, and of peculiarly beautiful texture." 

 — Mr. Mitchell in Mr. YarrelVs ' Historij of British Birds: . 



Egg, 1. White, the size of a hen's egg, but equally blunt at both 

 ends. 



FoRKTAiLED Petrel, Thalassidroma Leachii. 



Situation. On the ground in St. Kilda, the Orkney Islands, &c. 

 *' Not far from the top of the cliff were a colony of the forktailed 

 petrel, breeding under the stones and rocks about a yard deep : we 



