2 
FUOrAR. 
Jieing anxious to secure the bird as a specimen, I did not waste time in watching its actions, but availed 
rnjself of the first chance. Prom the naturalist to whom it w'as sent for preservation I learned that 
the stomach contained, in addition to some fatty matter, a good handful of greasy oakum ; and, strange 
to say, the manner in which the ])ird became possessed of this apparently unpalatable mouthful was 
afterwards ascertained. The previous day, while conversing with the master of one of the luggers (Ilenry 
Ihomas, alias “Gaby”*}, he promised, if we fell in with him while hauling his nets, to have the birds 
uell fed with fish, by which means a larger number would be collected round the boat, and a greater 
chance afforded for observing or, if necessary, procuring specimens of Skuas or Fulmars. Though the 
night had been clear, the morning at daybreak proved hazy, and a drifting rain setting in shortly after, 
there was little chance of our making out any signals on boats at a distance. Before leaving the fleet it 
was ascertained from the crew of a Yarmouth lugger wdio had seen him shoot his nets that we were a few 
miles to the south of the station he had taken. Early in the following Aveek I learned from Thomas that 
on the morning of the 8th he had seen no birds Avorth mentioning, Avith the exception of a fcAV dark- 
plumaged Skuas (young Pomatorhines) and one Fulmar ; the latter, he stated, came close under the stern 
of the boat, but though hoAmring round for a time, took no notice of the food throAvn out. Happening, 
hoAAmAmr, himself to fling overboard a piece of greasy oakum, Avith Avhich he had been cleaning and oiling 
some of the gear, the bird immediately dasbed doAvn, and seizing the unsavoury morsel in its beak, sailed 
off towards the south. Tliere could be little doubt that the specimen I obtained AA'as the same bird : as 
near as we were able to judge, it aaus shot about half an hour after l)eing lost sight of by my informant. 
AT bile in correspondence Avith Mr. Gunn of Norwich, to Avhom the bird had been sent for preservation, I Avas 
furnished Avith the folloAving notes referring to this specimen Avhich he had taken down at the time : — “ An 
adult female, exceedingly fat, Aveight 1 lb. 9 oz., length 18| inches, extent of AAungs AARen open 44 inches, 
the Aving from carpal joint to tip of longest primary inches. Head pure Avhite. The stomach contained a 
piece of oakum and some lumps of fat; the former had been apparently throAAm overboard from a Amssel, 
being saturated AAith grease, probably for machinery.” Then referring to a dark-tinted bird picked up at sea, 
and forAA-arded to him the same day, he adds;— “The other AAas also a female, but a younger specimen.” It 
is evident from this remark that Mr. Gunn entertained the idea I then held, \iz. that the dark-coloured birds 
Avere the juveniles. During the early morning I had previously noticed a couple of light-plumaged Fulmars 
flying south; these passed together at the distance of tAvo or three hundred yards, sailing round and 
round, Avithout paying the slightest attention to the clouds of Gulls hovering after a boat on Avhich the 
crew were shaking out and cleaning the nets. Shortly after daybreak a few dead Fulmars had been passed 
floating on the Avater, and AAdiile steaming back toAA^ards the harbour during the afternoon, Ave stopped and 
loAAmred the boat to pick up tAAm or three lying in our course about tAventy miles off the land. Though the 
shades of colouring varied, all exhibited the dark stage of plumage, and had evidently succumbed to the long- 
continued exposure to the force of the terrible gales that during the past month had SAAU'pt over the North 
Sea, causing death from exhaustion to thousands of even the hardiest sea-foAvl Avhile on the passage to their 
winter-quarters. None but those Avho had been afloat off our eastern coasts or observed the Avaifs as aa cII as 
the remnants of battered and decomposing carcasses cast up by the tide could credit the destruction dealt 
out to the feathered tribe. Since that date I have met aa ith but one of this species ; the bird aaus flying 
towards the north, some miles outside the Cross Sands, in January 1882, and paid not the slightest regard 
to some liver and fish-offal thrown out to draAV its attention. 
The colours of the soft parts of the Avhite-breasted bird shot on the 8th of November 1879 were as 
folloAvs : — Iris dark hazel. The hooked portion of the upper mandible lemon-yellow ; the remainder lemon 
and greenish toAvards base ; the ridge or tube at the base a dark horn. This protuberance falls aAvay 
* llclcrred to under the heading of the Lesser Black-backed Gull on page 3. 
