689 



KITTIWAKE. 

 Rissa tridactyla (L.)- 



Resident, breeding on the cliffs at Bempton and Speeton. A great 

 increase of numbers takes place in autumn. 



Pennant was the first to notice the Kittiwake in Yorkshire, 

 and thus alluded to its occupation of the Flamborough Cliffs — 

 " It inhabits the romantic chffs of Flamborough Head, where 

 it is called Petrell " (" British Zoology," Vol. iv. 1770, p. 26 ; 

 and in his " Tour in Scotland " (1771, p. 15), he again referred 

 to it at Flamborough (see Introduction). 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote as follows : — 



Larus tridactylus. — Kittiwake Gull — Common on the coast ; it 

 occurs near Huddersfield, also about Sheffield, and is occasionally- 

 seen near York. A. Strickland says " They breed in very great 

 abundance on the rocks [cliffs] at Flamborough, but leave the country 

 soon after, and are never seen here in winter."* 



This graceful Gull is resident in Yorkshire, nesting in 

 considerable numbers on the cliffs of the Flamborough range 

 at Bempton and Speeton. In the first half of the past century 

 it was extremely abundant there — Charles Waterton, in 1834, 

 found the nests so numerous as totally to defy any attempt 

 to count them — but, unfortunately, a demand arose for the 

 beautiful feathers forming its plumage, and thousands were 

 slaughtered to meet the exigencies of fashion ; it has been 

 asserted that a single gunner made from £15 to ;^i8 per week, 

 during the season, for feathers, whilst in one year four 

 thousand birds passed through his hands, being sent to London 

 plumassiers. The time chosen for shooting was just as the 

 birds were building their nests, the lining for which is generally 

 composed of grass or roots collected on the cliff tops, or in 

 the fields adjacent. I have seen the birds busily engaged 

 plucking the grass on the edges of the cliffs, and the veteran 

 climber, Edward Hodgson of Buckton, can remember when a 



* Strickland was in error in defining the position of this bird, and 

 especially so when he stated they are " never seen here in winter." 



