684 KITTIWAKE GULL. 



and to the Bermudas on the other ; while, beyond the British Islands, 

 this Gull breeds in myriads on the cliffs of the Faroes, Iceland, 

 Norway — where a vast colony exists near the North Cape, Spitsber- 

 gen, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, and wherever suitable localities 

 present themselves in the Siberian Arctic Ocean. Westward, it is 

 abundant in Jan IMayen, Greenland, and America above the Gulf of 

 the St. Lawrence to 81° 40' in Smith Sound, and as far west as 

 Bering Sea, while it migrates to Lower California in winter. In 

 Bering Sea are found individuals in which the hind-toe is not quite 

 obsolete and is occasionally terminated by a minute nail ; but this 

 peculiarity is not always of equal extent on both feet of the same 

 bird, nor is it confined to examples from the North Pacific. The area 

 between Alaska and Kamchatka is also inhabited by a perfectly 

 distinct species, R. brevirostris of Brandt, which has orange-red legs 

 and feet, and a darker grey mantle than our bird. 



The nests — usually of small pieces of turf or sea-weed, with a lining 

 of bents, and exceptionally of such 'flotsam' as tobacco — are placed 

 on narrow ledges of rocks ; and I have seen some which were not 

 more than 5 feet above high-water mark, though the topmost might 

 be hundreds of feet higher. The eggs, 23 in number, vary from 

 greyish-white to olive-buff, blotched and zoned with ash-grey and 

 rich brown: measurements 2" 15 by i'6 in. They are seldom laid 

 until the latter part of May, so that many of the young could 

 scarcely fly — while others were still in the nest — when the original 

 Sea-Birds Protection Act expired on August ist; consequently 

 thousands were formerly slaughtered to provide plumes for ladies' 

 hats. The food consists of fish and marine animals ; sea-water is 

 drunk in preference to fresh ; and marked birds have been known 

 to follow vessels across the North Atlantic. The name is derived 

 from the note, as are those of ' Hacket ' and ' Hacklet ' ; the young 

 bird is often called ' Tarrock.' The Kittiwake dives freely and also 

 swims under water. 



The adult in summer has the bill greenish-yellow ; mantle deep 

 grey; primaries chiefly black terminally from the ist to the 3rd, 

 and barred with black to the 6th ; head, neck, tail and under- 

 parts white ; legs and feet blackish. Length i5'5 in., wing 12 in. 

 In winter the nape and hind-neck are grey, like the mantle. The 

 young bird lias the bill black ; nape greyish ; shoulders, wing- 

 coverts and inner secondaries thickly spotted with brownish-black ; 

 ist to 4th quills blackish on the outer and on part of the inner web ; 

 tail barred with dull brown near the tip ; legs and feet brown until 

 complete maturity is attained. 



