306 BIRDS OF EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA 



RiSSA. 

 Hind toe rudimentary ; breed in colonies on sea cliffs ; 

 nest of seaweed and grass ; eggs 3, variable, ground colour 

 greenish white, pale ochreous or light olivaceous marked with 

 dark brown and purplish grey. 



Rissa tridactyla tridactyla (L.). Kittiwake. Fr. 

 Mouette tridactyle ; Ger. Dreizehenmowe ; Ital. Gabbiano 

 tridattilo ; Swed. Tretaig Mase. 



^ ? summer. Head, neck, tail coverts, tail, and underparts 

 white ; back, upper wing coverts and scapulars light blue grey, 

 last with white tips ; primaries and secondaries light grey, outer 

 web of ist primary and tips of outer primaries black, tips of inner 

 primaries and secondaries white. Bill yellow with green tinge. 

 Gape and eye-rim red. Iris brown. Legs and feet dark reddish 

 brown. In winter, occiput, nape and sides of neck are slaty grey. 

 Wing 303-325. Tarsus 31-34. Bill 31-35. Young: nape and hind 

 neck white, tipped black, forming a half collar, behind ear coverts 

 a dark spot, scapulars and inner wing coverts brown, subterminal 

 black band on tail, bill black. 



Breeds. — Brittany Coast (rare), British Isles, Faroes, Iceland, 

 Spitzbergen, Franz Joseph Land, and on Norwegian Coasts and 

 Murman Coast of N. Russia ; also in N. Asia, Greenland, and 

 E. Coast N. America. Some move south in autumn and winter ; 

 occurs then in Mediterranean, Canaries, Azores, W. Coast Africa 

 to Senegal and Cape de Verde, and in America to Great Lakes, 

 Bermuda, and N. United States. Abundant in N. Atlantic after 

 the breeding season. 



Rynchops. 



Bill long, laterally compressed, lower mandible longer 

 than upper. 



Rynchops tiavirostris Vieillot. African Scissor- 



BILL. 



^ 9 summer. Above dark brown ; forehead, face, throat 

 and underparts white ; under wing coverts brownish grey ; tail 

 forked. Bill, legs and feet orange red. Wing 335-365. Bill 

 to tip of upper mandible 54-65, lower mandible 78-98 (H.). In 



