LARID^ — THE GULLS AND TERNS — RISSA. 



207 



Rissa brevirostris. 



THE RED-LEGGED KITTIWAKE. 



Rissa nivea, Gray, Gen. B. III. 1845 (not of Palla-s 1826). — L.wvr. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858 



855. — Elliot, Illustr. Am. B. pi. 54 

 Larus brachyrhjnchus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1843, 106 ; Zool. Voy. Sulph. 50, pi. 34 (not of Richardson 



1831). 

 Larus {Rissa) brevirostris, "Brandt," Bnrcn, J. f. 0. 1853, 285. — Coues, B. N. W. 1874, 647. 

 Rimt brevirostris, Lawr. in Baird'.s B. N. Am. 1858, 855. — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B.1859, no. 674. — 



RiDCxW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 659. — Coues, 2d Cheek List, 1882, no. 784. 

 Larus brevirostris, Coues, Key, 1872, 315 ; Check List, 1873, no. 553 ; in Elliott's Alaska, 1875, 199. 

 Larus Warneckii, Coinde, Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1860, 401. 



Hab. Coasts and islands of the North Pacific, south to the Prybilof Group and Aleutians. 



Sp. Char. Feet deep coral-red or vermilion in the adult. Adult, in summer : Mantle deep 

 bluish plumbeous (decidedly darker than in R. tridactyla, nearly the same shade as in Larus atri- 

 cilla), the secondaries broadly and somewhat abruptly tipped with white. Primaries not lighter 

 than the back, the exterior quill with the outer w^eb Idack, the next nearly (sometimes quite) so, 

 the next three with a large subterminal space of black 

 extending from about 2.50 inches on the third to about 

 .75 of an inch (more or less) on the fifth, the.se three 

 quills tipped with plumbeous ; remaining quills bluish 

 plumbeous, the inner webs broadly edged and the outer 

 tipped with white ; sixth quill usually with a black spot 

 near the end of the outer web. Remainder of the plu- 

 mage snow-white. Bill yellow, sometimes tinged with 

 greenish ; rictus and inside of mouth orange-red ; naked 

 eyelids vermilion ; iris dark brown (Stejneger, MS.). 

 Adult, in winter: Similar, but nape tinged transversely 

 with pale pearl-blue, the auriculars crossed by a bar of 

 plumbeous. Young, first plumage: Similar to the adult, 

 but nape crossed by a band of blackish plumbeous, 

 another across the auriculars, and a suffusion of the 



same in front of the eyes. Primary coverts and outer webs of three or four exterior primaries 

 black, but no other black or dusky on wings or on tail. Bill black or dusky ; feet brownish. 

 Downy young: Not distinguishable from that oi li. tridactyla. 



Wing, about 13.00 inches; culinen, 1.20 ; depth of bill through base, .50 ; through angle, .42 ; 

 tarsus, 1.25 ; middle toe (with claw) nearly 2.00. 



Our knowledge of the liabits and geographical distribution of this species is some- 

 what limited, though considerably increased by the investigations of Mr. H. W. Elliott 

 in the Prybilof Islands, where it is abundant. Its peculiar habits do not appear to 

 be essentially different from those of the common Kittiwake. It is probably more 

 or less common both to these islands and to the sea-coast of both shores of the Xorth 

 Pacific Ocean and of the Behring Sea. 



Mr. Dall, in his Notes on the Birds of the Aleutian Islands, speaks of it as very 

 common in the Prybilof Islands ; and in his paper on the Birds of Alaska mentions 

 it as occurring by thousands over a small lake on St. George's Island, where it was 

 very conspicuous from its coral-red legs and feet — this rendering clear to him that it 

 must be the true form originally described by Brandt. The specimens in the col- 

 lection of the Smithsonian Institution, which while differing from this in no other 

 respect were found to have yellowish legs, and were at first an occasion of doubt, 

 prove to be identical with this, the yellow color having been found to be the result 

 of drying. Mr. Dall rightly conjectured that this is the same species as that since 



