ilORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



49 



86. Fulmar (From Brehm). 



This species is commonly called Fulmar Petrel. It is found in light and dark 

 phases of dress. Abundant in the North Atlantic and in the Arctic Oceans of 

 A.merica, Europe and Asia. The Fulmars constantly attend whaling ships out at sea 

 and feed on the blubber of the whale, which they devour with voracity. This species 

 is exceedingly numerous in the North Atlantic, congregating in thousands at St. 

 Kilda, the most western of the Hebrides, on the west coast of Scotland. Others of 

 its favorite breeding places are the Faroes, which are farther north; Iceland, Spitz- 

 bergen and Greenland. On some of the rocky islands off the coast of Spitzbergen 

 thousands of Fulmars breed in company with Brunnich's Guillemot, Black Guillemot, 

 and the Kittiwake Gull. The abundance of the Fulmar at some of its breeding places 

 In Greenland is something astonishing, nesting as they do in myriads on the inac- 

 cessible cliffs in mountainous places, depositing the single white egg in the crevices 

 or on the ledges of rocks facing the sea. The young are at first fed by regurgitation, 

 upon oil which is of a clear, amber color. This the birds, old and young, vomit upon 

 the slightest provocation, imparting to them, their nests, and even their breeding 

 grounds a disagreeable odor. The oil is one of the important commercial productions 

 of St. ICilda. The single egg is pure white; in shape resembling a hen's; shell brittle. 

 Four eggs from Iceland measure 2.96 by 2.04, 2.74 by 1.91, 2.99 by 2.02, 2.97 by 2.01. 



86a. LESSEB FTTIiMAB. 



Dlst.— North Atlantic. 



5 



FulmaruB glaeiaUs minor .Kjserbcslllng. Geog. 



