ST. KILDA AXD ITS BIRDS. 888 



which is then twisted to keep the oil in. The oil is 

 squeezed out of the bird by compressing the sides of the 

 chest and the abdomen, and is received in cans taken for 

 this purpose. The fat inside the body of the bird is 

 taken out, melted down and mixed with the other oil. 

 A good deal of additional oil is also obtained by skinning 

 the bird and putting the skin with the attached fat into 

 the melting pot, when the oil rises to the surface and is 

 skimmed off. The oil is chiefly used for burning in the 

 lamps, and constitutes, indeed, the sole source of light 

 for the natives during the winter months. Some of it, 

 however, is exported, the average quantity sent out of the 

 island being about 40 pints for each of the sixteen houses ; 

 it realizes sixpence a pint. The feathers plucked from 

 the bodies of the birds are handed over to the factor in 

 payment of rent, or given in exchange for groceries and 

 other necessaries. Fulmar feathers indeed constitute 

 the great mass of the feathers now exported. 



After the bird has been plucked, it is split lengthways 

 down the back, the viscera removed, and then, if wanted 

 for immediate use, it is straightway cooked (usually 

 boiled), or else it is preserved by filling the body with 

 salt, and packing the birds one above the other in barrels, 

 like herrings. Great quantities of these birds, the product 

 of the great Fulmar harvest, are preserved in this way for 

 food during the winter months. The average number of 

 young Fulmars taken in August amounts to between 400 

 and 500 birds for each of the 16 houses, or, say, about 

 7,500 birds altogether. Last season, however, was an 

 unusually good one, the natives taking about 600 birds 

 for each of the sixteen houses, or about 9,600 altogether. 

 This harvest of young Fulmars is taken on the main 

 island, it being seldom practicable, owing to unfavourable 

 weather or other causes, to get to the neighbouring islands 



FF 



