WHITE SEA-BIRDS. 281 



met seeking food on the tide-line, or snatching float- 

 ing morsels from the surface of the sea as it flies. 

 Like all Gulls it swims buoyantly. 



TERNS. — The black head of a Tern is merely a cap covering 

 the top of the head down to the level of the eyes, and 

 extending along the nape for a short distance, the bird 

 being white on face and throat, whilst the black head of 

 a Black-Headed Gull is black all round, covering face 

 and throat also. The tail is not forked as in Terns. 



KITTIWAKE— 15i inches. In the winter, when the Black- 

 Headed Gull loses its black head, the Kittiwake puts on 

 a slate-gray hood ; in summer the head is pure white. 



COMMON GULL— 18 inches ; upper parts gray ; bill and 

 feet greenish-yellow, the latter in winter pale brown. 



GANNET.— Plate 116. 33 inches. Adult entirely 

 white except the head and neck, which are tinged 

 with buff, and the longest wing-feathers and the bare 

 patch about the eyes, which are black ; bill large, 

 straight, pointed, greenish-gray ; legs and feet dark. 

 Young birds are dark, finely speckled all over with 

 white. Resident. 



Egg. — 1, chalk -white, with a blue sub -surface; 

 3-25 X 1-9 inches (plate 135). 



Nest. — A pile of seaweed and grass, placed on 

 cliff-ledges and rock-stacks. 



The Gannet is a clifF-breeder in great numbers on 

 the west coast of Scotland and England, and on parts 

 of the Irish coast, but goes south in the autumn. 

 It is our largest white sea-bird, and may be at once 

 identified when ashore by the simple markings de- 

 scribed above. When not standing inertly on the 

 cliffs of its breeding station, it spends its time diving 



