LESSER FULMAR. 
271 
a mode of defence. It attends the fishing vessels on the 
banks of Newfoundland, feeding on the liver and offal of the 
cod-fish which is thrown overboard, and is known to the sailors 
by the quaint name of John Down. It is also taken by means 
of a hook baited in this manner with the offal, and the inhab- 
itants of Baffin’s and Hudson’s Bay are said to salt them for 
winter provision ; though Pennant, in the “ Arctic Zoology,” 
adds that their flesh is rank and fetid in consequence of their 
unpleasant food, yet they are still considered as no indifferent 
dish by the hungry Greenlanders, and they breed usually about 
Disco. Like the birds of the preceding and nearly allied 
genus, they nest in holes in the rocks in great companies 
at St. Kilda about the middle of June, laying but one large, 
white, and brittle egg. The Fulmar is now and then, though 
very rarely, seen on the temperate coasts of Europe and the 
United States. The feathers are very close and full, clothed 
below with a thick and fine down. 
Fulmars are common from the Newfoundland banks northward, 
and in winter a few stragglers are met with off the New England 
coast. This form is not known to breed on the eastern side of the 
Atlantic. 
LESSER FULMAR. 
WHITE HAGDON. NODDY. 
Fulmarus glacialis minor. 
Char Similar in coloration to glacialis, but smaller. Length aver- 
ages about 18 inches. 
Nest and Eggs Similar to glacialis, the eggs averaging somewhat 
smaller. 
Mr. Hagerup thinks it probable that this is the form that breeds 
in numbers on the western coast of Greenland north of latitude 
69°. In winter a few of these birds are met with off the New 
England coast. 
The habits of this variety do not differ from those of the type, 
and the two forms can be separated only by their size. 
