FULMAR PETREL. 449 



chuckling noise which in their anxiety for dispatch they always make ; 

 and the jealousy with which they view, and the boldness with which 

 they attack, any of this species that are engaged in devouring the finest 

 morsels. They frequently glut themselves so completely, that they are 

 unable to fly ; in which case, when they are not relieved by a quantity 

 being disgorged, they endeavour to get on the nearest piece of ice, where 

 they rest until the advancement of digestion restores their wonted powers. 

 Then, if opportunity admit, they return with the same gust to the ban- 

 quet as before ; and though numbers of the species may be killed, and 

 allowed to float about among them, they appear unconscious of danger to 

 themselves. 



" The Fulmar never dives, but when incited to it by the appearance 

 of a morsel of fat under water. When in close view of any men, it keeps 

 a continual watch both on the men and its prey ; having its feet con- 

 tinually in motion, and yet perhaps not moving at all through the water. 

 Its boldness increases with the numbers of its species that surround it. 

 It is a very hardy bird. Its feathers being thick it is not easily killed with 

 a blow. Its bite, froin the crookedness, strength, and sharpness of its bill, 

 is very severe. 



" When carrion is scarce, the Fulmars follow the living whale ; and 

 sometimes, by their peculiar motions, when hovering at the surface of the 

 water, point out to the fisher the position of the animal of which he is in 

 pursuit. They cannot make much impression on the dead whale, until 

 some more powerful animal tears away the skin ; the epidermis and rete 

 mucosum they entirely remove, but the true skin is too tough for them 

 to make way through it." 



Procellaria glacxalis, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 213. — Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. 



p. 823.— CA. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 3C9. 

 Fulmar Petrel, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 330. 



Adult Male in Summer. Plate CCLXIV. 



Bill shorter than the head, robust, straight, slightly compressed, the 

 tip curved. Upper mandible with the nostrils on the ridge, separated 

 only by a thin partition, covered by an elevated horny case, and open- 

 ing directly forwards, the sides convex, and separated by a groove from 

 the nasal plate, as well as from the unguis, which is remarkably strong, 



VOL. III. F f 



