KITTIWAKE i6 



latitude, yet breeds as far to the south as the north-western coast of 

 France, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Kurile Islands, and in winter 

 ranges in Europe to the Caspian, the Mediterranean, and the Canaries, 

 and on the opposite side of the world to about 3 5 north latitude. 

 Throughout the British Islands the kittiwake is a familiar and resident 

 bird on the coast, although for breeding-purposes it resorts to rocky 

 islands or precipitous cliffs, on the almost inaccessible ledges of which 

 the female lays her two or three eggs, cradled in a nest of somewhat 

 more elaborate construction than is usual among the gull -family. 

 Favourite nesting-haunts of the kittiwake are Lundy Island, Bempton 

 Cliffs and Flamborough Head in Yorkshire, the Fame Islands off the 

 Northumberland coast, and still farther north the celebrated Bass Rock, 

 and numerous localities in the Shetlands and the Orkneys ; while there 

 are likewise many well-known colonies of these birds along the Irish 

 coast, some on the mainland itself, and others on the adjacent islets. 

 In many of these places the birds are to be seen in thousands during 

 the breeding-season ; but these large assemblies appear to be exceeded 

 in Lapland and other northern lands, where the colonies are of almost 

 incredible extent. 



Thirty years or so ago, when bird-protection was either non-existent 

 or much less rigorous than at the present day, and when gulls' wings 

 were in vogue for ladies' hats, a terrible slaughter, accompanied by 

 much unnecessary cruelty, of kittiwakes used to take place on Lundy 

 Island during the first fortnight of August ; the skins being taken to 

 Clovelly on the mainland, where they were prepared for market. It 

 has been computed that in some seasons not much fewer than ten 

 thousand birds, inclusive of starved nestlings, were killed in one way 

 or another during this brief period. Happily, such doings are now 

 things of the past. 



In addition to various kinds of surface - swimming marine 

 invertebrates, kittiwakes feed very largely on the fry of fishes ; and 

 the great increase which has taken place in the numbers of these 

 birds, as the result of protection, cannot therefore be regarded with 

 an altogether favourable eye by the professional fisherman. By the 

 middle of August the breeding-season is over in the more northern 

 haunts of these birds, which then desert the cliffs to seek a more genial 

 climate farther south. The nest is frequently built on a foundation of 

 turf, kneaded into a dough-like mass by the feet of the birds, and upon 

 this is a superstructure of seaweed, lined with dry grass, and perhaps a 

 small quantity of feathers. The eggs, which are occasionally four in 

 number, although generally, as already stated, two or three, vary in 



