AVES—PETREL. 657 
TEE PET REL 
Tue whole genus of petrels are known by having, instead of a back toe, 
only asharp spur or nail; they have also a faculty of spouting from their 
bills, to a considerable distance, a large quantity of pure oil, which they do, 
by way of defence, into the face of any person who attempts to take them. 
THE FULMAR PETREL! 
Is the largest of the kind which is known in Europe. It is superior to the 
size of the common gull, being about fifteen inches in length, and in weight 
seventeen ounces. The bill is very strong, yellow, and hooked at the end. 
The head, neck, and all the under parts of the body, are white; the back 
and wings ash-colored, the quills dusky, and the tail white. It feeds on the 
blubber of whales, which supplies the reservoir, whence it spouts, with a 
constant stock of ammunition. This oil is esteemed by the inhabitants of 
the north, as a sovereign remedy in many complaints, both external and 
internal. The flesh is also considered by them as a delicacy, and the bird 
is therefore in great request at St Kilda. When a whale is taken, these 
birds will, in defiance of all endeavors, light upon it, and pick out large 
lumps of fat, even while it is alive. 
1 Procellaria glacialis, Lx. The genus Procellaria has the bill as long as, or longer 
than the head, very hard, edged, depressed, and dilated at the base; the tip compressed, 
and arched, both mandibles channelled, and abruptly inflected towards the extremity ; 
nostrils prominent at the surface of the bill, united, and concealed in a tube which either 
forms a single opening, or exhibits two distinct openings ; legs middle sized, often long, 
slender; the tarsi compressed; the three front toes entirely webbed and long, and the 
hinder represented by a pointed claw; wings long. 
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