2IO CASSELI. S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



species is eighteen or nineteen inches, its breadth forty-one to forty-three inches, the length of its 

 wings twelve to thirteen inches, length of tail four inches and two-thirds. 



The Fulmar Petrel lives in the Arctic Ocean, from which it rarely strays, unless driven away 

 by violent storms. In more southern seas it is represented by a kindred species resembling it so 

 closely that the two were often mistaken for each other. The Island of St. Kilda, and Griinso near 

 Iceland, are looked upon as its most southern breeding-places. Like all its kindred, it is an inhabitant 

 of the wide sea, and, except during its breeding season, only comes to dry land when lost and 

 bewildered by a fog, or wearied out by the long continuance of a storm. In North Greenland it 

 is said to be seen oftener than elsewhere upon the coasts, and in the bays and harbours. Their 

 specific name glacialis has not been very happily given to these birds, as they seem to avoid rather 

 than seek large accumulations of ice ; indeed, all pilots hold their presence to be a sure sign of open 

 water. The flight of this Petrel very much resembles that of the Ivory Gull. The sailor gazes with 

 admiration as he sees it with outspread, almost motionless wings, glide like a meteor over the waves or 

 battling with the storm for days together, apparently without allowing itself the slightest repose. 

 It seems to have not the slightest fear of man ; it approaches ships with the utmost confidence, and is 

 rather importunate in its visits to the whale-fishers, more especially should they be engaged in cutting 

 up a whale. 



" The Fulmar," says Captain Scoresby, " is the constant companion of the whale-fisher. It joins 

 his ship immediately on passing the Shetland Islands, and accompanies it through the trackless ocean 

 to the highest accessible latitudes. It keeps an eager watch for every thing thrown overboard ; the 

 smallest particle of fatty substance can scarcely escape it. Though few should be seen when a whale 

 is about being captured, yet, as soon as the flensing process commences, they rush in from all quarters 

 and frequently accumulate to many thousands in number. They then occupy the greasy track of the 

 ships ; and, being audaciously greedy, fearlessly advance within a few yards of the men employed in 

 cutting up the whale. It is highly amusing to see the voracity with which they seize the pieces of fat 

 that fall in their way ; the size and quantity of the pieces they take at a meal ; the curious chuckling 

 noise, which in their anxiety for dispatch, they always make ; and the jealousy with which they view, 

 the boldness with which they attack, any of their species that are engaged in devouring the finest 

 morsels. 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, however, make much impression on the dead whale until some 

 more powerful animal tears away the skin, for this is too tough for them to make their way 

 through." 



In high latitudes the Fulmars build their nests in every available island, as far south as St. Kilda. 

 Upon the Westmanoer, near Iceland, its nests are more numerous than those of any other birds that breed 

 in that vicinity ; some estimate of the numerous flocks in which it visits those parts may be formed from 

 the numbers killed, amounting annually, as Faber informs us, to at least 20,000. Their numbers seem 

 to be steadily on the increase, in spite of the persecution to which they are subject. Their nests are 

 very generally placed beyond the reach of the bird-catchers, notwithstanding that they are let down by 

 ropes when in search of them, and pursue them upon every ledge and in every crevice to which they 

 can possibly find access. The Fulmar Petrel begins to congregate around its breeding-places in 

 March, about the beginning of May, or sometimes towards the middle of April ; each pair lays a single 

 egg, which is round, of a pure white colour, either upon the bare surface of the rock, or in some slight 

 depression made or discovered in the scanty soil. 



The Fulmar Petrel is only a rare visitor to England, but it frequents in great numbers the islands 

 of St. Kilda and Borrera ; it is said also to breed in some of the islands of the Hebrides. 



