230 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



call and fliglit like those of the Arctic Tern, and Miss. M. 

 Haviland, who saw a little party in the Kara Sea in September, 

 writes—" Their wings built to battle with the gales that blow 

 over the polar seas, met this little wind with a contained strength 

 that gave their flight a curious butterfly buoyancy. Their voices, 

 which reminded me of the talk of the common terns on our 

 English dunes, were gay and careless as the wind they con- 

 quered." Fish, lemmings in the north, crustaceans, and garbage 

 are eaten, and the " Snowbird " is well known to the whalers as 

 a scavenger. Like other Arctic birds it is foolishly confiding 

 when it visits Britain, and is easily shot, usually before observa- 

 tions are made of its habits. The bill is greenish grey with 

 a reddish-yellow tip, the legs are very dark grey, the eye-rims 

 red, and the irides brown. Length, i8 ins. Wing, I4ins. Tarsus, 

 1-5 ins. 



Kittiwake. Rissa tridactyla (Linn.). 



In both Old and New World the Kittiwake (Plate 89) is an 

 abundant Arctic and northern Holarctic bird, nesting in large 

 colonies in suitable places. In the British Isles it is resident ; 

 plentiful on rocky coasts in Scotland and Ireland, and locally 

 abundant on the west coast of England and Wales, but rare 

 in the east. In autumn and winter numbers of immigrants 

 appear off our shores ; there is a general southward movement. 



In summer the Kittiwake is a gull of precipitous cliffs, in 

 winter of the open sea. It has a clean and neat appearance, 

 its mantle and quills bluish grey, the rest of its plumage snowy 

 white except for the tips of the outer primaries which are black, 

 and show on the open white wing as a triangular black patch. 

 On the first two or three there are neither white tips nor 

 mirrors ; thus the flying bird can at once be told from the 

 Common Gull which it rather resembles ; a black line at the 

 edge of the wing— the outer web of the first quill — distinguishes 



