ufe histobies of nokth ameeican peteels and pelicans. 37 



with a string, and hung on cords across the interior of the huts until required 

 for use. The oil thus procured and preserved, besides supplying their lamps, 

 Is used by the inhabitants as a medicine, being sometimes of considerable 

 efficacy in chronic rheumatism, and acting as a cathartic; while, from its 

 nauseous taste and smell, it would doubtless prove an effectual emetic also 

 to any but a St. Kildlan. In the beginning of August the natives descend 

 the rocks for the young fulmars, which are then nearly fledged ; and by boiling 

 with water, in proper vessels, are made to furnish a large quantity of fat, 

 which is skimmed off, and preserved in casks in the solid form. 



Winter. — The principal winter resorts of the fulmar on the Ameri- 

 can side of the Atlantic Ocean are in the vicinity of the Grand Bank, 

 off Newfoundland, and Georges Bank, off Massachusetts, where it is 

 usually common and often abundant. It is known to the cod fisher- 

 men on the banks as the " noddy," " marbleheader,'? " oil bird," or 

 "stinker." Captain Collins (1899) says: 



The fulmars are probably more abundant on the Grand Bank than on any 

 other of the fishing grounds commonly resorted to by American vessels, with 

 the exception, perhaps, of the halibut grounds in Davis Straits, or the Flemish 

 Cap to the eastward of Grand Bank, which are not visited by many fishing 

 schooners. 



The marbleheader is quite as greedy as the hagdon, and quite as bold when 

 in pursuit of food ; but, unlike the latter, which is always quarrelsome and noisy, 

 the fulmar confines itself to a sort of chuckling sound, somewhat resembling a 

 low grunt. It will swallow a piece of cod liver with even as great voracity as 

 the hag, but it rarely, if ever, seems to exercise the cunning or caution of the 

 latter in trying to avoid the hook, and, as a consequence, it is more easily cap- 

 tured. It Is caught in the same manner as the hag, but owing to its compara- 

 tively small numbers on the fishing grounds, the fishermen do not depend upon 

 it so much as a source of bait supply as upon Pufflnus major, since one would be 

 likely to catch twenty, or perhaps many more, of the latter to one noddy. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breedinff range. — North Atlantic and Arctic regions. East to 

 Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land. South to the British Isles, where 

 its range is extending to the mainland of Scotland (Sutherland and 

 Caithness) and Ireland (Mayo and Ulster) ; Iceland ; southern Green- 

 land (69° north); and eastern Baffin Land (Cumberland Sound). 

 West to Melville Island. North to Northern Greenland (about 76° 

 North on the west coast and about 81° north on the east coast), 

 Ranges north in summer to 85°. 



Winter range. — North Atlantic Ocean. South on the American 

 side to the fishing banks off Massachusetts regularly and farther south 

 occasionally. South in the Atlantic Ocean at least to 43° north. 

 North to the limit of open water. 



Spring migration. — Early dates of arrival: Davis Straits, April 

 19 ; northeastern Greenland, 79° north, middle of April ; Jones Sound, 

 May 1; Wellington Channel, May 23; Spitzbergen, April 7; Franz 

 -23 4 



