448 LARIDAG 
fessor W. J. Sollas kindly invited me to join his expedition 
to Lambay Island, off the Dublin coast. We remained 
there for ten days, sleeping under canvas, and during that 
time many good opportunities were afforded of studying 
these Gulls, during the breeding-season, on the cliffs (Plate 
XLVIII.). I witnessed several tussles, but the birds never 
seemed to cause each other serious damage. I have seen 
two (presumably males), enter into combat in order to gain 
sole right of a suitable nesting-site, the female all the while 
sitting closely on her eggs or young. The fight begins by 
the birds ‘ pick-axing’ each other with their beaks, next the 
wings are raised, and the pugilists closing in, endeavour 
to dislodge each other from the cliff. Sometimes the 
weaker one gets tired of the entertainment and flies off; 
less often the two birds, with unabated fury, sticking to each 
other, roll and flutter down the cliff almost to the sea, and 
then rise again into the air in hot pursuit. But the aérial 
combat never seemed to last long, the birds, after one or 
two swoops, setthng down each on his rightful place. 
From this one must not infer that the Kittiwake is a 
pugnacious type of bird, the scenes described being excep- 
tional rather than otherwise. In fact, the harmony which, 
as a rule, reigns in Kittiwake-colonies, and the gentle 
behaviour of these birds to one another, are most pleasing 
to behold. 
From the summit of the chff several pairs may be 
seen nestling close to one another, ‘ billing’ and ‘ cooing’ 
long before they commence to incubate. Later in the 
season a male may be noticed speeding towards the cliff 
with a fish in his beak.1 For this he receives extra 
caresses from his spouse, who, with uplifted wings, greets 
his return. And now he raises his wings in response, while 
both cross their necks from side to side.” 
The nests take some time to construct, and during 
March and April the members of the colony are busy at 
work. The materials used are grass and seaweeds in which 
feathers occasionally get mixed up. These, compounded 
with a basis of soft muddy clay, are pressed into a rather 
‘The males feed the sitting-females during the breeding-season. 
2 Even in the early breeding-season, before the male has commenced 
to feed the female, he is greeted home in the same way. I have watched 
the habits of Kittiwakes in several localities, as early as the first week 
in March. 
