BIRDS OF THE OPEN SEA 19 



propitiating them with choice bits, in hope of averting dan- 

 ger and winning good luck in their fishing. According 

 to their belief, the whales drive the sardines into the bay 

 to help the Chinese, but the albatross drives the whales. 



86 0. PACIFIC FULMAR. — Fidmarus glacialis rodgersi. 

 Family : The Fulmars and Shearwaters. 



Length: 17.00-19.00. 



Light Phase : Head, neck, and under parts white ; upper parts ashy 

 gray ; primaries and secondaries dark gray-brown. 



Dark Phase : Uniform dusky gray above, ashy gray below. 



Geographical Distribution : North Pacific, south on the American coast 

 to Mexico'. 



Breeding Range : Islands of the Pacific from the coast of British Colum- 

 bia to Behriug Sea. 



Breeding Season : June and July. 



Nest: In colonies on ledges and in crevices of steep promontories rising 

 perpendicularly from the sea. 



1 ; chalky white. Size 2.85 X 1.90. 



Like all the Fulmars, this species is found on the 

 open sea and rarely lands upon the coast. It has been 

 recorded at Monterey, and occurs at most of the islands 

 along the coast of California, Washington, Oregon, and 

 British Columbia. It is very abundant at Santa Cata- 

 lina in the fall and winter. 



Its common names are Goose, Gonie, Gluttonbird, 

 Giant Petrel. Of these " Gluttonbird " seems to apply to 

 this vulture of the sea. Its food consists of dead flesh, 

 fish, or fowl, as the case may be, upon which it gorges 

 until unable to fly. It is eminently a bird of the open 

 sea, visiting the land seldom except in the breeding 

 season, and usually not flying nearer the coast than five 

 or ten miles. 



