THE ZooLocist—NovemBER, 1872. 3293 
numbers increased as we approached the Feroes, though they left 
us as we entered the Sound of Naalsoe, apparently not caring for 
the more settled waters of the fiords. Truly oceanic in their 
natures, they seem to exult in sailing down the trough of the huge 
Atlantic billows, and it is most interesting to watch their powers of 
flight: one steady flap, and then for several minutes they sail along 
without any apparent vibration of their wings, excepting when they 
change their course by a see-saw motion of the pinions. It was 
somewhere about 1839 that a few pairs of fulmars were first dis- 
covered breeding at Qualvoe, in Suderoe; now they are abundant 
there in the breeding-season, and have spread to Great Dimon, 
Skuoe, Myggenes, Videroe and Fugloe, in all of which islands it 
nests in large numbers. The natives value the young so highly as 
food that it is difficult to induce them to let one take a few eggs. 
The fulmar sits close, and does not move from the egg until the 
fowler is quite close: in many cases there would be no difficulty 
in capturing the old bird on the egg: this was done for me by a 
fowler at Myggenes: the oil which exuded from this bird’s bill 
when captured stained the feathers a delicate salmon hue. 
135. Puffinus anglorum, Ray. Manx Shearwater. Native name, 
Skraapur. Svabo mentions that these birds arrive on the 25th of 
March, lay their eggs in the latter end of April, and depart after 
the middle of August. The droppings of this bird are never 
seen outside its hole, as in the case of the puffin. It is said 
that at one time, on the island of Skuoe, several thousand young 
ones were taken yearly, but the birds wandered to Lujraberg, on 
the west side of Sandoe, and after some years to Troldhoved. At 
present the shearwater breeds in considerable numbers at Trold- 
hoved, Kolteroe, Kalbak, Sorvaag, Videroe, and several other 
places. At Videroe, on the 8th of June, we were taken to one of 
the breeding-places of this bird: the burrows were situated in a 
steep grassy hill-side, about three hundred feet above the sea. The 
exact position of the nests was recognizable by the patch of dis- 
coloured turf that had been replaced in prior seasons over the hole 
by which the young one had been removed: our conductor raised 
one of these sods, scraped away the peaty soil below, and, removing 
a clod of peat, exposed a shearwater sitting on its egg. I took both 
the bird and egg; the former proved to bea male. The egg was 
deposited on a few blades of withered grass. I only examined this 
one burrow, as the islanders are extremely averse to disturbing 
SECOND SERIES—VOL. VII, 3H 
