516 RISSA TRIDACTYLA. 



forehead and lower parts irhite, a narrow black crescent before 

 the eyes, a dark grey patch over the ears, the occiput tbuied 

 with grey, a dusky patch on the nape; the hack deep greyish- 

 bine; the feathers margining the wing, and those along the 

 humerus black, the middle coverts brown; the scapulars and 

 secondaries tcith a black patch; thefi'e outer inimarics black, 

 unless toward the inner margin; the tall white, luith a broad 

 black band, decreasing outwards, and not extending to the outer 

 web of t lie outer feather. 



As the Kittiwake is not often seen with us during the cold 

 season, and at the time of its return in spring very seldom 

 retains its winter plumage, I shall first describe it in that of 

 summer. 



Male in Summer. — This beautiful bird has the body 

 moderately full, the neck of ordinary length, the head rather 

 large, ovato-oblong, anteriorly compressed. The bill is much 

 shorter than the head, rather stout, nearly straight, a little 

 decurved at the end, and rather acute ; the upper mandible 

 with the dorsal line gently decurvate beyond the nostrils, 

 which are linear-oblong, four-twelfths of an inch in length, 

 the ridge broadly convex at the base, the sides toward the 

 end nearly erect and flattened ; the lower mandible with the 

 loM'cr outline of the crura nearly straight, the angle slightly 

 prominent, the dorsal line concave, and the tip nearly on a 

 level with the knob. 



The eyes are rather small, their aperture nearly four- 

 twelfths. The legs are very short and rather strong ; the 

 bare part of the tibia about half an inch long ; the tarsus 

 very short, with sixteen decurved scutclla ; the first toe so 

 small, although regularly formed, as merely to present the 

 appearance of a slender knob ; its claw decurved, obtuse, not 

 readily perceptible, and in old birds obsolete ; the fore toes 

 rather long and slender, the inner with twenty-two, the 

 middle with thirty, the outer with twenty-eight scutclla. 

 The anterior toes are rather small, coiu])ressed, moderately 

 arched, rather acute, that of the middle toe with the inner 

 edge expanded. 



