Cassell's book of birds; vol. 4

by Alfred Edmund Brehm

The habitat of the Giant Petrel extends over the temperate and antarctic zones of the southern hemisphere.

Captain Hutton tells us that "this bird breeds in the cliffs of Prince Edward's Island and Kerguelen's Land, but the nests can be got at occasionally. The young are at first covered with a beautiful, long, light grey down; when fledged they are dark brown, mottled with white. When a person approaches the nest, the old birds keep a short distance away, while the young ones squirt a horribly-smelling oil out of their mouths to the distance of six or eight feet. It is very voracious, hovering over the sealers when engaged cutting up a seal, and devouring the carcase the moment it is left, which the Albatross never does. It sometimes chases the smaller species, but whether or not it can catch birds possessed apparently of powers of flight superior to its own is doubtful; but supposing one is killed, that it feeds only upon its heart and liver, I can never believe, yet it is said to do so in the works of many ornithologists."

THE FULMAR PETREL (Procellaria glacialis).

THE FULMAR PETREL.

The FULMAR PETREL (Procellaria glacialis) is principally white, light silvery grey upon the under side, and blueish grey upon the mantle. The primary quills are black, the eye is brown, the beak along the culmen pale horn-yellow, at its base greyish green. The foot is yellow, with a shade of blue. In young birds the plumage on the under side of the body is slightly blueish. The length of this[Pg 210] species is eighteen or nineteen inches, its breadth forty-one to forty-three inches, the length of its wings twelve to thirteen inches, length of tail four inches and two-thirds.

The Fulmar Petrel lives in the Arctic Ocean, from which it rarely strays, unless driven away by violent storms. In more southern seas it is represented by a kindred species resembling it so closely that the two were often mistaken for each other. The Island of St. Kilda, and Grünso near Iceland, are looked upon as its most southern breeding-places. Like all its kindred, it is an inhabitant of the wide sea, and, except during its breeding season, only comes to dry land when lost and bewildered by a fog, or wearied out by the long continuance of a storm. In North Greenland it is said to be seen oftener than elsewhere upon the coasts, and in the bays and harbours. Their specific name glacialis has not been very happily given to these birds, as they seem to avoid rather than seek large accumulations of ice; indeed, all pilots hold their presence to be a sure sign of open water. The flight of this Petrel very much resembles that of the Ivory Gull. The sailor gazes with admiration as he sees it with outspread, almost motionless wings, glide like a meteor over the waves or battling with the storm for days together, apparently without allowing itself the slightest repose. It seems to have not the slightest fear of man; it approaches ships with the utmost confidence, and is rather importunate in its visits to the whale-fishers, more especially should they be engaged in cutting up a whale.

"The Fulmar," says Captain Scoresby, "is the constant companion of the whale-fisher. It joins his ship immediately on passing the Shetland Islands, and accompanies it through the trackless ocean to the highest accessible latitudes. It keeps an eager watch for every thing thrown overboard; the smallest particle of fatty substance can scarcely escape it. 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 ships; and, being audaciously greedy, fearlessly advance within a few yards of the men employed in cutting up the whale. It is highly amusing to see 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, 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, however, 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 their way through."

In high latitudes the Fulmars build their nests in every available island, as far south as St. Kilda. Upon the Westmanoer, near Iceland, its nests are more numerous than those of any other birds that breed in that vicinity; some estimate of the numerous flocks in which it visits those parts may be formed from the numbers killed, amounting annually, as Faber informs us, to at least 20,000. Their numbers seem to be steadily on the increase, in spite of the persecution to which they are subject. Their nests are very generally placed beyond the reach of the bird-catchers, notwithstanding that they are let down by ropes when in search of them, and pursue them upon every ledge and in every crevice to which they can possibly find access. The Fulmar Petrel begins to congregate around its breeding-places in March, about the beginning of May, or sometimes towards the middle of April; each pair lays a single egg, which is round, of a pure white colour, either upon the bare surface of the rock, or in some slight depression made or discovered in the scanty soil.

The Fulmar Petrel is only a rare visitor to England, but it frequents in great numbers the islands of St. Kilda and Borrera; it is said also to breed in some of the islands of the Hebrides.