THE FULMAR — PETREL. Id 



quarters. The sea immediately about the ship's stern, when 

 the men are engaged in skinning their gigantic prey, is some- 

 times so completely covered with them that a stone can scarcely 

 be thrown overboard without striking one of them. "When, 

 anything is thus cast among the crowd, those nearest take 

 alarm, and so on, till a thousand are put in motion ; but as 

 in rising they strike the water with their feet, a loud and most 

 irregular splashing is produced. It is amusing to observe with 

 what jealousy they view, and with what boldness they attack, 

 any of their species engaged in devouring the finest morsels, 

 and to hear the curious chuckling noise they make in their 

 anxiety for despatch, lest they should be disturbed. The vo- 

 racious birds are frequently so glutted as to be unable to fly, in 

 which case they rest upon the water until the advancement of 

 digestion restores their wonted powers. They then return to 

 the banquet with the same gusto as before, and although numbers 

 of the species may have been killed with boat-hooks, and float 

 among them, the others, nothing daunted, and unconscious of 

 danger to themselves, continue their gormandising labours. 

 When carrion is scarce, the fulmars follow the living whale, as 

 if they had a presentiment of his future fate, and sometimes, 

 by their peculiar motions while hovering on the surface of the 

 water, point out to the fisherman the position of the animal. 

 A.s their beak cannot make an impression on the dead whale 

 until some more powerful creature tears away the skin, it may 

 be imagined how delighted they are when man takes upon 

 himself the trouble of peeling a whale for them. 



The Glacial Petrel (Procellaria gelida) does not seem to 

 approach the pole so near as the fulmar. He appears but seldom 

 in Iceland, but breeds frequently in Newfoundland. The same 

 is the case with the Shearwater (P. pujjfinus), which breeds in 

 great numbers on the Feroe islands, and in Orcadia. • The 

 tropical petrels are the least known. They do not appear 

 to gather troopwise, and but seldom follow ships. Towards 

 45° S. lat. the first Pintados (P. capensis) make , their ap- 

 pearance, and are more rarely seen after having passed 60° S. 

 lat. The Giant Petrel (P. gigcmtea), extends its flight as far as 

 the ice-banks of the south, where the Antarctic and the Snowy 

 (P. antarctica et nivea) Petrels first appear, birds which never 

 leave those dreary seas, and are often seen in vast flocks floating 



