Older LONGIPEXNES. 



Family LARID^. 



RISSA TRIDACTYLA (L.). (40.) 



KITTIWAKE. 



The Kittiwake is a regular spring and fall migrant, spend- 

 ing its winters far to the south, returning here from the 25th 

 of March to the 10th of April, remaining for only about eight 

 or ten days, and then passing on further north to breed. Cir- 

 cumstances connected with my observations of the gulls 

 migrating through the portion of the State where my principal 

 personal observations have been made, lead me to believe that 

 this species breeds on the islands of a number of our northern 

 lakes. I hope to be able to settle many facts in connection 

 with the gulls in the near future, which it has been impossi- 

 ble to do up to the present time. The young may be seen at 

 Bigstone lake, Mille Lacs lake and along the Red river as 

 early as the 15th of August in ordinary seasons, and always 

 the last week in October, in considerable numbers. As the 

 Kittiwake Gulls are known to breed ' ' as far south as Bird 

 Rock, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence " (Langille) there can be no 

 valid reason to doubt their doing so in the vicinities referred 

 to in Minnesota. Their food while with us consists of tish. 

 molluscs, aquatic larvae, and small water snakes. 



Samuels (Birds of New England) says, "The nest is com- 

 posed of seaweeds arranged in a large pile, and placed on a 

 ledge of rock in a crevice, or on a jutting shelf, and is occupied 

 for successive years, receiving additional material every year. 

 The eggs are three in number. Their form is ovoidal; the 

 color varies from a creamy drab, with a very slight olivaceous 

 tint to a delicate gray. On this are scattered blotches of 



