204 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
FULMAR. 
Funmarus Guactatis, Linn. 
Pl. XXXVL, fig. 3. 
Geogr. distr.—Shores of N. Europe and America, breeding in the 
high north, migrating southwards in winter: in Great Britain it is 
rare, but more so in Ireland than England; has been obtained off the 
coasts of Wales and Cornwall, Essex, Yarmouth Roads, Flamborough 
Head in Northumberland, and Durham: it breeds on the islands off 
the Scotch coast, especially St. Kilda. 
Food.—Blubber, fish, Mollusca, and barnacles. 
Nest.—Usually a shallow excavation in turf, lined with dry grass 
and sea-pink. 
Position of nest.—Generally on almost inaccessible rocks skirting 
the ocean, one or more nest being placed upon grass-grown ledges. 
Number of eggs.—1. 
Time of nidrfication.—VI. 
My. Cecil Smith says that the Fulmar “is not uncommon 
on the more northern coast of England and Scotland, and 
breeds in some of the islands off the coast, making its nest 
on the grassy shelves of the highest precipices. The nest 
itself is formed of herbage, seldom bulky, generally a mere 
shallow excavation in the turf, lined with dry grass and the 
withered tufts of the sea-pink.’’—(‘ Birds of Somersetshire,’ 
p. 422. 
Mr. R. Gray states that the breeding-quarters of the 
Fulmar are St. Kilda, Soa, and Borrera, from which group 
of rocks it is a straggler in the summer to the Outer 
Hebrides. In the Shetlands it was only known as a visitor 
until the 4th of June, 1878, when about a dozen pairs were 
observed hovering round the cliffs of the island of Foula, 
where they reared their young in some places in which, 
according to the natives, no birds had ever bred before. 
The nests were placed on small ledges formed by the 
splitting of the rocks into layers. Since that year the 
species is believed to have increased on the island.—(See 
‘ Zoologist,’ 1879, p. 380.) 
