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. Mr. John Macgillivray, who visited St. Kilda, its principal breeding-place, in June, 1840, gives the following account:-- "This bird exists here in almost incredible numbers, and to the natives is by far the most important of the productions of the island. It forms one of the principal means of support to the inhabitants, who daily risk their lives in its pursuit. The Fulmar breeds on the face of the highest precipices, and only on such as are furnished with small grassy shelves, every spot on which, above a few inches in extent, is occupied with one or more of its nests. The nest is formed of herbage, seldom bulky, generally a mere excavation in the turf, lined with dried grass, and the withered tufts or the sea-pink, in which the bird deposits a single egg of a pure white colour, when clean, which is seldom the case, and varying in size from two inches seven lines to three inches one line in length, by two inches in breadth. On the 30th of June, having partially descended a nearly perpendicular precipice, six hundred feet in height, the whole face of which was covered with the nests of the Fulmar, I enjoyed an opportunity of watching the habits of this bird, and describing them from personal observation. The nests had all been robbed about a month before by the natives, who esteem the eggs of this species above all others. Many of the nests contained each a young bird, a day or two old at farthest, thickly covered with long white down. The birds were very clamorous on being handled, and vomited a quantity of clear oil, with which I sometimes observed the parent birds feeding them by disgorging it. The old birds on being seized instantly vomit a quantity of clear