668 KITTIWAKE GULL. 



Seas. Its southern range appears to extend to the Canaries 

 on this side of the Atlantic, and to the Bermudas on the other ; 

 while northward, beyond the British Islands, this Gull breeds 

 in myriads on the cliffs of the Fseroes, Iceland, Norway — where a 

 vast colony exists near the North Cape, Spitsbergen, Novaya 

 Zemlya, Franz-Josef Land, and wherever suitable localities present 

 themselves in the Siberian Arctic Ocean. Turning westward, we 

 find it abundant in Greenland, and throughout the northern por- 

 tions of America above the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, as far as 

 Bering Sea. There individuals are found in which the hind-toe is 

 net quite obsolete and is occasionally terminated by a minute nail ; 

 though this peculiarity is not always of equal extent on both feet of 

 the same bird, nor is it confined to examples from that district. 

 The area between Alaska and Kamschatka is also, however, in- 

 habited by a perfectly distinct species, R. braHrostris of Brandt, 

 which may at once be recognized by its orange-red legs and feet, 

 and darker mantle. 



The nests — usually of sea-weed or bents, and exceptionally of such 

 ' flotsam ' as tobacco — are placed on narrow ledges of rocks ; and 



1 have seen some which were not more than 5 feet above highwater 

 mark, though the topmost might be hundreds of feet higher. The 

 eggs, 2-3 in number, vary from greyish-white to olive-buff, blotched 

 and zoned with ash-grey and rich brown : average measurements 



2 15 by 1 "6 in. They are seldom laid until the latter part of May, 

 so that many of the young can scarcely fly — while others are still 

 in the nest — when the Sea Birds Protection Act expires on August 

 I St ; and thousands are then slaughtered to provide plumes for ladies' 

 hats. The food consists of fish and marine animals ; sea-water is 

 drunk in preference to fresh ; and marked birds have been known to 

 follow vessels across the North Atlantic. The name is derived from 

 the note, as are those of ' Racket ' and ' Hacklet ' ; the young bird 

 is often called ' Tarrock.' 



The adult in summer has the bill greenish-yellow j mantle deep 

 grey ; primaries black on the lower portion from the ist to the 5th, 

 being barred with black on the 6th ; head, neck, tail and under 

 parts white; legs and feet blackish. Length 15 "5 in., wing 12 in. 

 In winter the nape and hind-neck are grey, like the mantle. The 

 young bird has the bill black ; nape greyish ; shoulders, wing- 

 coverts and inner secondaries thickly spotted with brownish-black ; 

 ist to 4th quills blackish on the outer and on part of the inner web ; 

 tail barred with dull brown near the tip ; legs and feet brown until 

 complete maturity is attained. 



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