THE COMMON FULMAR. 
89 . 
meat or blubber, and towed by a long twine over the ship’s stern, is a means 
employed by the sailor boys for taking them. In the spring of the year, 
before they have glutted themselves too frequently with the fat of the whale, 
they may be eaten ; and when cleared of the skin, and of every particle of 
yellow fatty substance lying beneath it, and well soaked in water, they are 
pretty good, particularly in ‘ sea pies.’ They are remarkably easy and 
swift on the wing. They can fly to windward in the highest storms, and 
rest on the water with great composure in the most tremendous seas. But 
it is observed that, in heavy gales, they fly extremely low, generally 
skimming along the surface of the water. The Fulmar walks awkwardly, 
and with the legs so bent that the feet almost touch the belly. When on 
ice it rests with its body on the surface, and presents its breast to the wind. 
Like the Duck, it sometimes turns its head backward, and conceals its bill 
beneath its wing. 
“ Fulmars are extremely greedy of the fat of the whale. Though few 
should be seen when a whale is about being captured, yet, as soon as the 
flensing process commences, they rush in from all quarters, and frequently 
accumulate to many thousands in number. They then occupy the greasy 
track of the ship; and, being audaciously greedy, fearlessly advance within 
a few yards of the men employed in cutting up the whale. If, indeed, the 
fragments of fat do not float sufficiently away, they approach so near the 
scene of operations, that they are knocked down with boat hooks in great 
numbers, and sometimes taken up by the hand. The sea immediately about 
the ship’s stern is sometimes so completely covered with them, that a stone 
can scarcely be thrown overboard without striking one of them. When 
anything is thus cast among them, those nearest* the spot where it falls take 
the alarm, and these exciting some fear in others more remote, sometimes 
put a thousand of them in motion ; but as, in rising into the air, they assist 
their wings, for the first few yards, by striking the water with their feet, 
there is produced by such a number of them, a loud and most singular 
splashing. It is highly amusing to observe the voracity with which they 
seize the pieces of fat that fall in their way ; the size and quantity of the 
pieces they take at a meal; the curious chuckling noise which in their anxiety 
for dispatch they always make ; and the jealousy with which they view, and 
the boldness with which they attack, any of this species that are engaged in 
devouring the finest morsels. They frequently glut themselves so com- 
pletely, that they are unable to fly; in which case, when they are not 
relieved by a quantity being disgorged, they endeavour to get on the nearest 
piece of ice, where they rest until the advancement of digestion restores 
their-'wonted powers. Then, if opportunity admit, they return with the 
same gust to the banquet as before; and though numbers of the species may 
Vol. YIIL-— 12 
