ST. KILDA AXD ITS BIRDS. 381 



slopes, the tendency to line the cavity with these flakes of 

 stone was not so pronounced, although still apparent ; in 

 fact, I saw one or two nests in the latter situation in which 

 the hollow in the hare peaty soil (for the bird seems to 

 scrape away the surrounding herbage before forming its 

 nesting cavity) was lined with a complete pavement of 

 small flat flakes of stone. This tendency, indeed, to line 

 the nesting cavity with small fragments of stone seems to 

 be the most characteristic thing* about the Fulmar's nest. 

 I observed the same thing when visiting the nesting 

 haunts of this bird in Shetland. The Fulmar may be said 

 to be resident in St. Kilda, for it is seen about the rocks 

 all the year round, with the exception of about a month 

 after the young have flown, that is, from about the end of 

 August till the end of September, during which time not 

 a single bird is observed on the cliffs. They begin to 

 return about the beginning of October, and remain all the 

 winter. The nesting season begins towards the end of the 

 second week in May, and, as a rule, about the 12th of that 

 month about half the birds will have laid. At that time 

 the Grulls are very much on the look-out for the eggs, and 

 if the birds are disturbed by persons going down the cliffs, 

 the Gulls will at once sweep in and seize the eggs, and 

 considerable numbers are often destroyed in this way. If 

 the egg is taken, the bird will not, it is said, lay again that 

 season. In a wet season a number of the eggs get addled. 

 By June 21st, the earliest of the young Fulmars are being 

 hatched, and by August 12th they are fully fledged, 

 though not as a rule able to fly for about another week. 

 Both sexes incubate. Two out of five birds snared on 

 the nest were males, and the other three females. I had 

 many opportunities of observing the well-known habit the 

 sitting bird has of ejecting oil from its mouth on the 

 approach of an intruder. Although all the birds did not 



