CHAP. III.] THE KLTTIWAKE. 91 



that they may get a portion of the spoil. They belong to the 

 third kind of gull common in the north, isrnaosen, the ivory 

 gull (Larus eburneus, Gmel.). 



In disposition and mode of life these gulls differ much from 

 each other. The glaucous gull is sufficiently strong to be able 

 to defend its eggs and young against the attack of the mountain 

 fox. It therefore breeds commonly on the summits of easily 

 accessible small cliffs, hillocks or heaps of stones, preferably in 

 the neighbourhood of " loomeries " or on fowl-islands, where 

 the young of the neighbouring birds offer an opportunity for 

 prey and hunting during the season when its own young are 

 being fed. Sometimes, as for instance at Brandywine Bay on 

 Spitzbergen, the glaucous gull breeds in great flocks on the 

 ledges of steep fell-sides, right in the midst of Brlinnich's 

 guillemots. On Bear Island I have seen it hatch on the very 

 beach, at a place, for instance, under the arch of a waterfall 

 leaping down from a precipitous cliff. The nests, which, to 

 judge from the quantity of birds' dung in their neighbourhood, 

 are u.sed for a long succession of years, are placed in a dej)ression 

 in the rock or the ground, and lined with a little straw or a 

 feather or two. The number of the eggs is three or four. 

 After boiling they show a jellylike, half tran.sparent white, and 

 a reddish yellow, and are exceedingly delicious. The young 

 birds have white flesh, resembling chicken. The burgomaster 

 is common everywhere along the coasts of Novaya Zemlya and 

 Spitzbergen. Yet I have not seen the nest of this gull on the 

 north coast of North East Land or on the Seven Islands. 



Still more common than the glaucous gull in the lands of the 

 High North is kryckian, the kittiwake. It is met with far out 

 at sea, where it accompanies the vessel whole days, circling 

 round the tops of the masts, and sometimes — according to the 

 statements of the walrus-hunters, when a storm is approaching — 

 pecking at the points of the pendant. When the vessel is in 

 harbour, the kittiwakes commonly gather round it to pick out 

 anything eatable in the refuse that may be thrown away. They 

 breed in great flocks on the steep escarpments in some separate 

 part of the fowl-fells, in connection with which, it is evident 

 that the kittiwakes always endeavour to choose the best places 

 of the fell — those that are most inaccessible to the fox and are 

 best protected against bad weather. Among the birds of the 

 north the kittiwake is the best builder ; for its nest is walled 

 with straw and mud, and is very firm. It juts out like a great 

 swallow's nest from the little ledo;e to which it is fixed. 

 Projecting ends of straw are mostly bent in, so that 

 the nest, with its regularly rounded form, has a very tidy 

 appearance. The interior is further lined with a soft, carefullv 

 arranged layer of moss, grass and seaweed, on which the bird 



