36 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



RISSA TRIDACTYLA TRIDACTYLA (Linnaeus). 

 KITXIWAKE, 

 HABITS. 



The hardy kittiwake has been well named, on the New England 

 coast, the " frost gull " or the " winter gull," for its arrival seems 

 to indicate the coming of hard frosts and the beginning of real winter. 

 It seems to bring with it the first cold breath of ice and snow from 

 the rugged Arctic coasts where it makes its summer home. This 

 species is always associated in my mind with icebergs and the great 

 Greenland ice packs, which drift southward with the Arctic current, 

 and in its summer home, with the dark, frowning cliffs of the frozen 

 north, which tower for hundreds of feet above the stormy ice-bound 

 seas until lost to sight in shrouds of mist and fog, where the " frost 

 gulls " find a safe retreat in which to rear their hardy offspring. 



Spring. — According to Hagerup (1891) the kitti wakes arrive in 

 Greenland early in April: 



From their arrival till the micldle of May they keep together in one or more 

 large flocks, and are then very timid and noisy. This is, perhaps, because the 

 fjord is to a great extent covered with ice, so that their nesting ground lies 

 8 to 10 miles from open water. On clear days in April a flock of some 2,000 

 may be seen rising to a great height, say 3,000 and to 4,000 feet, sometimes 

 going out of sight, so that one can only hear their screeching as they rapidly 

 wheel about. They are then wont to make an excursion inland, above the ice, 

 toward their breeding place. On returning they descend somewhat more 

 scattered ; but at once, on reaching the water, they gather close together. 

 These exercises they often go through many times a day. In May they 

 assemble in smaller flocks and are less shy. About 2,000 lay their eggs on the 

 front of a perpendicular cliff situated at the head of the fjord. The lowest 

 nests may easily be reached from a boat ; the highest are about 150 feet above 

 the sea. The eggs are laid chiefly during the first 10 days of June, and the 

 young fly from their nests about the middle of August. (The earliest date on 

 which I have seen a young bird is the 7th of August.) After that they generally 

 go about in small flocks or singly and keep comparatively silent. On a few 

 occasions only, on August afternoons, I have seen large flocks of 500 to 1,000 

 individuals rise to a great height and fly toward the ocean. 



Courtship. — Mr. Edmund Selous (1905) says, in referring to the 

 courtship of the kittiwake, that the inside of the mouth is of " a fine 

 rich red, or orange red color," and that " both sexes open their bills 

 widely and crane about, with their heads turned toward each other, 

 whilst at the same time uttering their shrieking, clamorous cry. 

 The motion, however, is often continued after the cry has ceased, 

 and this we might expect if the birds took any pleasure in the bril- 

 liant gleam of color which each presents to and, as it were, flashes 

 about in front of the other." 



