FULMAR PETREL. 
513 
of the rock was so perpendicular, that it was a admirably 
adapted for rope-climbing from the absence of all impe¬ 
diment in the way of projections, and from the excellent 
footing above for the man who holds the rope/' 
In several instances the birds allowed themselves to 
be caught upon their eggs, many of which had a hole in 
the shell, through which the young were chirping. “ In 
no case was a bird sitting upon more than one, and it 
was placed upon a little collection of fragments of stone 
not exactly like, but reminding one of an oyster-catcher’s 
nest. They were upon little bare ledges of a few inches 
wide.” 
Mr. Wolley’s remarks as to the nest of the Fulmar—if 
nest it can be called—are of great interest. Although 
scarcely differing in general appearance from the various 
species of sea-gulls, and breeding like them upon the face 
of some lofty precipice, the Fulmar still retains its own 
peculiar habit, the habit which is noticed in the remarks 
relating to the stormy petrel; and instead of amassing, 
as the gulls do, a quantity of soft dry grass upon which 
to place itself and its eggs, it puts there a pavement of 
bits of stone. If the nest was of grass it might be swept 
away from that very narrow ledge by every gust of wind, 
whilst the “ fragments of stone” may remain undisturbed, 
and prevent the eggs from rolling overboard, which is not 
guarded against as are those of the guillemot by their 
peculiar form. 
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