a straggler. Its winter range is known to extend as far
south as the Mediterranean, a specimen having been obtained
at Cette on the 18tli of December, 1860. In Iceland it is one
of the commonest of birds, it being stated that from twenty
to thirty thousand young Fulmars are annually caught on the
Vestmanneyjar Islands to the southward, and Mr. Proctor
observed that it was common at Grimsey, where the dark
grey form is said to predominate. It is found in abundance
in the Greenland Seas, Davis Strait, and Baffin Bay;
and up Smith Sound two were observed by the ‘ Alert ’
explorers in 82° 30' N. lat. Round Spitsbergen both forms
are very numerous, and the light one breeds in thousands on
some of the islands ; also, in less abundance, on Novaya
Zemlya; hut its continuous range cannot as yet be traced
along the coast of Arctic Siberia. In Bering Sea and the
North Pacific are found two forms of questionable specific
distinctness, F. pacijicus and F. rodgersi, which also display
the grey phase of plumage, and one of these, or else our
Fulmar, occurs on Prince Albert Land. On the Atlantic
seaboard the winter range of the Fulmar extends to Massachusetts.
Scoresby, in his account of the Arctic Regions, has given a
long account of this species, part of which is as follows :—
“ The Fulmar is the constant companion of the whale-fisher,
joining his ship immediately on passing the Shetland Islands,
and accompanying it to the highest accessible latitudes. It
keeps an eager watch for anything thrown overboard ; the
smallest particle of fatty substance can scarcely escape it.
Fulmars are remarkably easy and swift on the wing, flying
to windward in the highest storms, and resting on the water
in great composure in the most tremendous seas; but it is
observed that in heavy gales they fly extremely low, generally
skimming along by the surface of the water. They
are extremely greedy of the fat of the whale, and though few
should he 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.
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 despatch, they
always make; and the jealousy with which they view, and
the boldness with which they attack, any of their species
that are engaged in devouring the finest morsels. When
carrion is scarce, the Fulmars follow the living whale, and
sometimes, by their peculiar motions when hovering at the
surface of the water, point out to the fisher the position
of the animal of which he is in pursuit. They cannot make
much impression on the dead whale until some more powerful
animal tears away the skin, for this is too tough for them to
make way through it.”
In the adult bird the curved point of the hill is yellow,
the sides yellowish-white, the superior ridge investing the
nostrils greenish; irides dark brown; a small dark spot in
front of the eye ; head and the neck all round white; the
back, all the wing-coverts, secondaries, tertials, upper tail-
coverts, and tail-feathers pearl-grey; wing-primaries slate-
grey ; breast, belly, and all the under surface of the body
white : sometimes with a little grey on the flanks; legs, toes,
and their membranes, pale grey in life, drying yellowish ;
the claws slender, but curved and pointed. The whole length
of an adult male is about nineteen inches ; the wing, from
the anterior bend, twrelve to thirteen inches ; the middle toe
and its claw longer than the tarsus.
In the grey phase the Fulmar has the tip of the bill
yellow, the sides brownish-yellow, the sheath of the nostrils
almost black; head, neck, hack, wings, and tail nearly
uniform ash-brown, hut the surface of the back and wings
rather darker in colour; chin, neck in front, and all the
under surface of the body also uniform ash-brown, hut
rather paler in colour than the upper surface; legs and
toes bluish horn-colour, membranes paler.