40 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



behind eye as in winter adult plumage ; a broad bar 

 across back of neck, lesser and middle wing-coverts, 

 inner secondaries, and a terminal bar on tail, black ; 

 first four primaries with outer webs, outer half of 

 inner webs and ends for some distance, black ; the rest, 

 pearly-white. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On rocky ledges overlook- 

 ing the water; made of grass and seaweed. Eggs: 2 or 

 3, sometimes 5, buff, brownisli-gray, or greenish- 



gray, irregularly spotted with shades of brown and 

 lavender. 



Distribution. — Arctic regions; breeds from Wel- 

 lington Channel and northern Greenland south to Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, and from Arctic islands of Europe 

 and western Siberia to southern France; winters from 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence south to New Jersey, and cas- 

 ually to Virginia. Bermuda, and the Great Lakes; 

 accidental in Missouri, Colorado, and Wyoming. 



The graceful and industrious little Kittiwake 

 has several interesting and characteristic traits. 

 It pursues its prey after the manner of the Terns, 

 hovering over the water and plunging head fore- 

 most into the sea, with all of the dash and vigor 

 of a Kingfisher. These Gulls are often seen 

 following right whales apparently to get the 

 fragments of tish rejected or dropped by those 

 monsters. Observers who have watched the 

 birds doing this say that they act as if they knew 

 when the whales must rise to breathe. 



The Kittiwake feeds mainly on fish, but will 

 take almost any animal or vegetable refuse it 

 can find. For drinking it prefers salt water to 

 fresh, and it is often seen sleejnng peacefully, 

 floating on the great rollers, with its head tucked 

 under its wing — literally " rocked in the cradle 

 of the deep." It is a great wanderer, and de- 



cidedly democratic in its disposition, for it is 

 often found in the company of other Gulls, 

 Terns, and various other sea-birds. 



It takes its vernacular name from a fancied 

 resemblance between its cry and the syllables 

 " kit-ti-wake." In its scientific name, Rissa is 

 its Icelandic name, and t rid act via is from the 

 (jreek, meaning " three-toed," and refers to an 

 anatomical peculiarity of the species. 



The Pacific Kittiwake ( Rissa tridactyla polli- 

 caris) is a geographical variation of the Common 

 Kittiwake. The two differ hut very little. The 

 former occurs off the coasts of the north 

 Pacific, Bering Sea, and the adjacent Arctic 

 Ocean, breeding from Cape Lisburne and Herald 

 Island south to the Aleutian and Commander 

 Islands, and wintering from the Aleutian Islands 

 south to northern Lower California. 



Photograph by ti. K. Job 



Cuurtc-sy of Outing PubHshing Co. 



KITTIWAKE 

 In its nest on a cliS 



