THE KITTIWAKE 249 



spray and tempest have left them intact. In studying the 

 nesting economy of this Gull you will find that it breeds, as 

 a rule, much lower down the cliffs than the Guillemot and 

 the Eazorbill. Clusters of its nests may be seen within 

 thirty feet of the waves. It is no use looking for the 

 Kittiwake's nest on low and broken rocks ; it chooses the 

 most inaccessible portions of the high cliffs that tower almost 

 like a wall from the sea. In places where the rocks do not 

 furnish ledges and crannies enough for the Guillemots and 

 Eazorbills, the Kittiwakes make their nests on almost every 

 part, but by far the most thickly on the lower portions. It 

 is only the most daring climber who can take the eggs of 

 this bird, for rarely indeed are they laid in situations easy of 

 access. The nests are built on the narrow ledges and pro- 

 jections of the rock. A favourite site is where a piece of 

 cliff has been broken off, leaving a shelving ledge perhaps 

 only a foot across. Every little bit of vantage ground is used 

 if the colony be large, and many nests are built close together. 

 The Kittiwake's nest is a large well-made structure, adapted 

 in every way to withstand the knocking about it receives 

 from the wind and spray. In the first place turf and roots 

 are used, the soil adhering to them soon becoming saturated 

 with spray, and beaten into a mortar-like mass by the in- 

 cessant pattering of the bird's webbed feet. Upon this solid 

 foundation the Kittiwake builds a further nest of seaweed 

 and stalks of marine plants, lining it with dry grass. A few 

 feathers may sometimes be seen in the nest, but their presence 

 is due more to accident than design. The droppings of the 

 birds are strewn all round the nest and over the rocks, makinf^ 

 the place look as if it had been whitewashed. The eggs are 

 three or four in number, and differ considerably in colour, 

 shape, and size. Some eggs are pale bluish-green in ground 

 colour, others are olive -brown or yellowish-brown ; the spots 

 and blotches are dark brown and gray. Many eggs have 



