244 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
dining more or lefs, in fome fpecimens, to red. 
The body is thiddy doathed with feathers upon a 
dofe fine down. 
This fpecies is much more common in cold, than 
in warm or temperate climates : it has been met 
with in both the ardic and antardic regions, in all 
parts which navigators have been able to vifit, even 
to the foot of thofe impenetrable barriers, the float- 
ing iflands and eternal mountains of ice and fnow. 
In the northern parts of the world, the natives of 
the various coafls and iflands eafily catch thefe 
heedlefs birds in great numbers. Pennant, fpeak- 
ing of thofe which breed on, or inhabit, the Ifle of 
St Kilda, fays — No bird is of fuch ufe to the 
iflanders as this : the Fulmar fupplies them with oil 
for their lamps, down for their beds, a delicacy for 
their tables, a balm for their wounds, and a medi- 
dne for their diftempers.’^ He fays alfo, that it is a 
certain prognofticator of the change of the wind : 
if it- comes to land, no wefl wind is expeded for 
fome time ; and the contrary when it returns and 
keeps the fea.’’ 
Thefe birds are extremely greedy and gluttonous, 
and will devour any floating putrid fubftances, fuch 
as the filth from the fhips, which they fearlefsly fol- 
low. They alfo purfue the whales, but particular- 
ly the bloody track of thofe which are wounded^ 
and in fuch great flocks as thereby fometimes to dif- 
Gover the prize to the fifhers, with whom they ge- 
