Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE ALBATROSSES AND PETRELS

Fulmars

The present family is often divided into a number of more or less well marked subfamilies, the first of which (the Fulmarina) embraces the Fulmars and their immediate allies, and of which the Giant Fulmar, or Cape Hen {Macronectes gigantea), may be taken as the type.

This species, the sole representative of its genus, is but little inferior to the Albatrosses, being from thirty to thirty-six inches in length, and having a spread of wings from seventy-two to eighty-four inches. It is distinguished at once by its great size, by the very long and stout nasal tubes, and tail of sixteen feathers.

There are two well-marked phases of plumage, a. so-called light phase, in which the head, neck, and lower parts are white, the upper parts dusky, and the bill light yellowish, and a dark phase, in which the plumage is a uniform dark sooty brown, with the bill olive yellowish or grayish white; the legs and feet are grayish black.

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