116 



TUFTED PUFFINS— FULMAR AND STORMY PETRELS. 



busily employed, it is difficult for the eye to follow their rapid evo- 

 lutions. 



" Like many other divers, they dig, by means of their beak and 

 claws, holes in the greensward, with which their breeding-place is 

 generally covered, to the depth of two feet, or even more; their 

 excavations having more the appearance of rabbit-holes than of 

 nesting-places for a bird ; at the bottom they are slightly wider 

 than elsewhere, and here the}' lay their eggs, without making any 

 nest. Occasionally, however, they collect a few stalks of grass 

 together, upon which their eggs are deposited. Not unfrequently 

 they merely take possession of the holes prepared in preceding 

 years. Their nesting-place being completed, each female lays a 

 solitary egg, which is of large size. Upon this egg the male and fe- 

 male sit by turns for a very long period ; how long has not yet been 

 ascertained, but it extends over several weeks ; if disturbed during 

 their confinement, the parents become much excited, and defend 

 their nests vigorously, uttering cries which have been compared 

 to the growling and yelping of young dogs, at the same time 

 spreading out their tails and biting their opponent with their sharp 

 bills." Nuttall says: " Their bite is, however, very severe, and 

 they can, when irritated, take out a piece of flesh from a man's 

 hand without any extraordinary effort. When reared and domes- 

 ticated they become quite tame, and, in the end, familiar." The 

 length of this species is about thirteen inches. 



Tufted Puffins, op Tufted Mormons. (Fratercula cirrhata.) 

 Fig- 5- 



In its manners and characteristics, this species resembles the 

 Sea Parrot, or Common Puffin. (Plate LXXV, fig. 4.) 



In length it is from fifteen to eighteen inches. Over each eye 

 arises a tuft of feathers about four inches in length. 



Fulmar, Petrel, Fulmar. (Fulmarus glacialis^) 

 Fig. 6. 



This species is a very common and constant resident in the Arc- 

 tic Ocean. In winter its migration extends to the United States. 

 Its length is from fifteen to eighteen 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," 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 everything 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 de- 

 vouring 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 can 

 not, 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." 



Mr. John MacGillivray, who visited St. Kilda, the principal 

 breeding-place of this species, in June, 1840, says: "This bird 

 exists here in almost incredible numbers, and to the natives is by 

 far the most important of the productions of the island. It forms 

 one of the principal means of support to the inhabitants, who daily 

 risk their lives in its pursuit. The Fulmar breeds on the face of 

 the highest precipices, and only on such as are furnished with 

 small grassy shelves, every spot on which, above a few inches in 

 extent, is occupied with one or more of its nests. The nest is 

 formed of herbage, seldom bulky, generally a mere excavation in 

 the turf, lined with dried grass, and the withered tufts of the sea- 

 pink, in which the bird deposits a single egg, of a pure white 

 color, when clean, which is seldom the case. . . . The birds 

 are very clamorous on being handled, and vomit a quantity of 

 clear oil, with which I sometimes observed the parent birds feed- 

 ing them by disgorging it. The old birds, on being seized, in- 

 stantly vomit a quantity of clear amber-colored oil, which imparts 

 to the whole bird, its nest, and young, and even to the rock it fre- 

 quents, a peculiar and very disagreeable odor. Fulmar oil is the 

 most valuable production of St. Kilda. . . . Besides supply- 

 ing their lamps, this oil is used by the inhabitants of the island as 

 a medicine." 



Stormy Petrel, Mother Carey's Chicken. (Procellaria pelagica.) 



Fig. 7. 



This is another of our species that is numerously to be met with 

 near the shores of the Atlantic coast. 



' ' In their usual habitat, that is, in the wide sea, the Storm Petrels 

 live in a constant state of activity, and may be seen flying about 

 during the entire day, and heard throughout the night. Occasion- 

 ally they may be seen disporting themselves singly, but more gen- 

 erally they make their appearance in small or more numerous 

 companies, during fine as well as in stormy weather. All day long 

 they are occupied in flying over the waves, the risings and fallings 

 of which they exactly follow, or in mounting high in the air like 

 Swallows, when they descend again, as though about to plunge 

 into the water, but rise again without touching it. Sometimes, 

 again, they settle down upon the water, and remain motionless, as 

 if unable to move from the same spot, though all around them is in 

 constant agitation and turmoil. When flying, they make but few 

 strokes with their wings, but these are obviously very effective, and 

 their action much diversified. Sometimes they may be seen with 

 their wings widely expanded, and in this manner they sail along 

 for minutes together, without the slightest effort; then, suddenly 

 bestirring themselves, a few quick, powerful strokes, given after 

 the manner of a Swift, raise them above the waves, when they as- 

 tonish the observer by the masterly precision of their evolutions, 

 as they shoot down obliquely over the billows, or mount up again 

 high into the air. Should they espy anything in the shape of food, 

 they at once hasten toward it, running upon the water, and, hav- 

 ing seized it with their beak, immediately resume their aerial pas- 

 time. As to their powers of swimming, they seem so seldom to 

 adopt that mode of locomotion, that many careful observers declare 

 that they never swim at all, but that they only sit down, as it were, 

 and float on the sea, without ever using their legs as instruments 01 

 propulsion. Their strength of wing is wonderful ; they literally 

 fly about all day long without resting at all. It is only after the 

 long continuance of a storm that they seem to be wearied, and yet 

 even this fatigue is not produced by their exertions in battling with 

 the wind, but because, during the violence of the tempest, they 

 are unable to obtain their usual supply of food, and, consequently, 

 are exhausted for want of nourishment. Their voice is seldom 

 heard in the daytime, which, in truth, appears to be to them the 

 season of repose ; it is in the evening, shortly after the sun has 

 gone down, that they seem most active and alert ; at that time, 



