THE GULLS 239 



where this passage takes place. Perhaps it is far at sea. Sabine's 

 gull, like most high arctic breeders, nests late, and the few seen on 

 spring passage have been mostly near their breeding-grounds in May 

 and June. (In California the Pacific spring passage has not been 

 observed before 7 April, and most birds have passed in late April 

 and May — Grinnell and Miller, 1944). A. C. Bent (1921) gives no 

 egg-date earlier than 28 May, and most in late June and early July. 

 What happens to Sabine's gull between November and May? 



The romance of the discovery and the distribution of the rosy and 

 Sabine's gulls has led us a little astray in this chapter on the life histories 

 of the gulls; but owing to the inaccessibility of their homes in the 

 arctic we know more about the first than the latter aspect of their 

 lives. We must now go on to discuss another species, also arctic, but 

 much better known. 



The kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla, is the most oceanic of all the gulls, 

 if we except the ivory- and rosy gulls which range widely over the pack 

 of the Arctic Ocean. But the kittiwake is a bird of the full Atlantic, 

 and indeed operates over a wider area of the North Atlantic than any 

 other sea-bird which breeds in it; for it goes a full ten degrees south 

 of the normal range of the fulmar. It breeds almost as far north as the 

 land goes; it is a pan-arctic breeder with penetrations into the temper- 

 ate zone. In the Old World it breeds on very many arctic islands 

 north of the Siberian coast, including most of the New Siberian Islands, 

 Svernaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya and Waigatz, though not apparently 

 Kolguev. As far as we can detect, it nests nowhere on the actual 

 mainland between the eastern Chukchi Peninsula of Siberian Asia 

 and the Murman coast. From the Murman coast along the Norwegian 

 coast it nests on many steep cliffs islands south (until recently) as 

 far as Rundo, on the corner of Norway between Alesund and Stat. 

 It is a common breeder in Franz Josef Land, breeding on Rudolf 

 Island, the northernmost, and on many others; in Spitsbergen it 

 nests in thousands on many coastal cliffs, and it is extremely abundant 

 on Jan Mayen and round Iceland. However, its only known colonies 

 in East Greenland north of Angmagssalik are in Rafle Island at the 

 entrance to Scoresby Sound and high in the north, Mallemukfjaellet 

 in Kronprins Christians Land. It is vastly abundant in the Faeroes 

 and in the northern and western isles of Britain, and common on many 

 cliffs of Ireland, and some of Wales and the Isle of Man. In England 

 it breeds in a limited number of stations — so few that they can be 

 enumerated.* (footnote on facing page) 



