Martin Martin

The sea-fowls are, first, Gairfowl¹, being the stateliest, as well as the largest of all the fowls here, and above the size of a solan goose, of a black colour, red about the eyes, a large white spot under each eye, a long broad bill; stands stately, its whole body erected, its wings short, it flyeth not at all, lays its egg upon the bare rock, which, if taken away, it lays no more for that year; it is palmypes, or whole-footed, and has the hatching spot upon its breast, i.e., a bare spot from which the feathers have fallen off with the heat in hatching; its egg is twice as big as that of a solan goose, and is variously spotted, black, green, and dark; it comes without regard to any wind, appears the first of May, and goes away about the middle of June.