MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 



however, a wide range of colour throughout the species, for birds vary from light grey 

 to white, flecked with a few dark feathers. We have no reason to suppose that these 

 birds of various phases of plumage do not interbreed, but from observations made by 

 Dr. Wilson we learn that a larger percentage of light coloured birds exists in the ice 

 regions than in those of a more temperate zone. 



The " Giant Fulmar," the " Stinker," or the " Nelly " of the sailors, and the 

 " Glutton " of the sealers, is a large and powerful bird, equalling in size some of 

 the smaller Albatroses. It is widely distributed in the southern oceans, where it 

 was discovered by Captain Cook, who obtained an example in Kerguelen Island, which 

 was subsequently described by Latham. 



During the cruise of the " Magenta " Professor Giglioli met with this bird in the 

 South Atlantic and the South Pacific, as well as in the South Indian Oceans (Faun. Vertebr. 

 Oceano, p. 48). It breeds on the islands of the southern seas, and also in certain 

 places on the Antarctic Continent, the nesting places having been discovered by the 

 recent Antarctic expeditions, and Professor Reichenow gives the following localities : — 

 Graham Land (Eaton, Kidder, etc.), Crozet Islands (Armson), South Georgia, 

 (Swedish Expedition in November), South Orkneys (Scottish Antarctic Expedition), 

 and to these may be added Antipodes Island and the Snares (Captain Bolton), 

 The northern range of the species is usually confined to about the 30° of S. latitude, 

 but individuals have been observed at Callao by Professor Giglioli, at Monterey in 

 California, and Audubon received a specimen from Mr. Townsend from as far north as 

 the Columbia River (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, Water-Birds of N. America, 1895, 

 p. 363), and a single specimen is recorded in the A. 0. U. Checklist from the coast of 

 Oregon. 



Examples of this Fulmar were procured by Captain Cook on Desolation or 

 Kerguelen Island, also from Staten Island, off Tierra del Fuego, Avhence a 

 specimen, now in the British Museum, was obtained by Dr. Coppinger. Admiral 

 Markham also met with it at Coquimbo, in Chili, and another specimen was obtained 

 by Mr. Nicoll in Valparaiso Bay (Ibis, 1904, p. 52). The birds were frequently met 

 with between the Falkland Islands and Montevideo. It has indeed been observed by 

 nearly all the recent Antarctic expeditions, and Dr. Bruce, of the " Scotia," noted it 

 at their farthest point south in latitude 74° 5' in March, 1904, when the vessel was fast 

 in the Pack Ice. Gould says that a white form of the Giant Fulmar followed the ship 

 for three weeks during his voyage from the Cape to Tasmania ; at Recherche Bay, 

 in D'Entrecasteaux Channel, he saw thousands of these birds sitting on the water 

 waiting for blubber and other refuse from the whaling station (Handb. Birds Austr., 

 II., p. 443). There is a specimen from Norfolk Island in the British Museum, 

 presented by Dr. Crowfoot. 



M. giganteus well deserves its name as the " Vulture of the Seas," as it feeds chiefly 

 upon carrion, and is most destructive to young Penguins and Petrels, frequently 



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