GULLS 43 



b*. Tarsus over 1,50. 



r. Wing under 13.25. Laughing Gull. (Im.) 

 rr. Wing over 13.25. 



?. Primaries white or mostly so. Ivory Gull. (Im.) 



(Hypothetical List.) 

 ??. Primaries mostly black or entirely so. Ring-billed Gull. 

 (Im.) 



Genus RISSA Stephens. 



40. Rissa tridactyla (Linn.). Kittiwake. 



Plumage in summer adults: head, neck, tail and its coverts, and lower 

 parts white ; mantle gray ; five outer primaries black tipped, the amount 

 decreasing from the outer inward ; bill yellowish, feet black ; hind toe 

 rudimentary, without a nail. Winter adult plumage : differs in back of head 

 and neck being gray washed and a lead-colored suffusion before and behind 

 the eyes. Immature plumage : back of neck and lesser wing coverts black ; 

 tail with black band at tip ; otherwise much as in winter adults. Wing 12.00 

 to 13.00 ; culmen 1.40 ; tarsus 1.35. 



Geog. Dist. Northern parts of northern hemisphere, nesting on American 

 coast from the Magdalen Islands northward to the Arctic regions ; in winter 

 found on the Great Lakes and along the coast to Long Island and rarely to 

 Virginia ; occasional in simimer on Maine coast but not breeding. 



County Records. — Cumberland ; common winter resident, (Brown, C. B. 

 P. p. 34). Hancock; regular winter resident among the outer islands, 

 (Knight). Knox; winter visitor, (Rackliff). Oxford ; one in October, 1890, 

 on Lovewell's Pond, (Nash) ; one shot at Kezar Pond in 1884, (Nash). 

 Piscataquis ; one shot near Piper Pond, Abbot, about August 4, 1901, 

 (Ritchie). Sagadahoc ; plenty from November to April, (Spinney). Waldo; 

 two seen and shot near Islesboro within a few years, (Howe, J. M. O. S. 1900, 

 p. 32) ; seen near Islesboro August 14, 1907, (Knight). Washington; abund- 

 ant fall migrant, (Boardman). York; (Butters). 



Though occasionally recorded in June and August such 

 individuals are mere stragglers, and the species may be regularly 

 expected only from November to April along the coast. Inland 

 records are few and scattering and are due to the presence of 

 mere stragglers. These birds nest in large colonies on cliffs 

 in the Arctic regions. Two to four eggs are laid and these are 

 of varying shades of buff or brownish gray, marked with choco- 

 late, brown and lilac in spots, or very often wreathed about 

 the larger end. Two eggs now before me were taken on Bristol 



