492 



KITTIWAKE 



remotely, and it is represented by /. mississippiensls, the Mississippi 

 Kite, which is by some considered to be but the northern race of 



(After Swainson.) 



Gampsonyx. 



the Neotropical Lphimhea. Gampsonyx, Eostrhamiis, and Cymindis, all 

 belonging to the Neotropical Region, complete the series of forms 

 that seem to compose the subfamily Milvinx, though there may be 

 doubt about the last, and some systematists would thereto add the 

 HoNEY-BuzzARDS, " Peruinse." 



KITTIWAKE,^ so called from the plaintive cry that is heard 

 almost incessantly from its thronged breeding-places, to visit one of 

 which is among the greatest delights of the real ornithologist — the 

 Larus r'lssa and L. tridadylus, the Rissa tridadyla of most authors — 

 the smallest of the strictly marine Gulls, ^ and a species that yet 

 abounds on many of the northern parts of the British coasts, where 

 the rocks afford it a home, for it seems never to breed but on the 

 side of a clitf, and there shelf-room is all it needs, though preference 

 to a niche that is overhung may sometimes be .noticed, and the 

 entry of a cave is almost always a favourite spot. Space is here 

 wanting to enter into particulars of these resorts, possessing a charm 

 almost indescribable ; but notwithstanding that, they were for a 

 long while, and, did not the law interpose, again would be scenes of 

 sickening slaughter, carried on at first for " sport," but latterly, and 

 far more fatally, to obtain " plumes " for women's dress. The 

 Kittiwake among other distinguishing characters differs from all 

 Gulls in that its hind toe (functionless among them) is generally 

 reduced to a mere tubercle, and it differs from the other marine 

 Gulls in that the young bear for the first year a dark semi-collar at 

 the base of the neck, dark patches on the wings and a black tip to 

 the tail — markings that make the wearer easily recognizable. In 

 this condition they are very generally called Tarrocks. The adults 

 on the wing very closely resemble those of the Common Gull, Larus 

 catius, but under favourable circumstances can be distinguished by 



^ This spelling of the word, -which has long been established, seems to have 

 been first published by Sibbald in 1684 (Scot, lllustr. pars 2, lib. iii. p. 26). In 

 Ray's Itinerary of 1671 it appears as " Cattiwike " in reference to the Fame 

 Islands. It might just as well be written " Pick-me-up." 



" Excepting perhaps Rhodostethia, of whose breeding habits we know nothing. 



