712 THE PACIFIC KITTIWAKE. 
cloudy days or in the Arctic twilight, preceding the time of departure for the 
South, these birds are said to utter doleful wailing cries, interspersed with 
harsh shrieks; and these are among the most characteristic sounds to be heard 
in the teeming, tragic North. 
No. 280. 
PACIFIC KITTIWAKE. 
A. O. U. No. 40. Rissa tridactyla pollicaris Ridgw. 
Synonym.—KiTtTiwake GULL. 
Description.—Adult in summer: General plumage pure white, the mantle* 
deep pearl-gray ; five outer primaries with terminal portion black, the breadth of 
black area on first primary about three inches, decreasing to .85 in the fifth; the 
first black on the outer web also; the fourth and fifth narrowly tipped with white ; 
bill light yellow clouded with olivaceous; legs and feet blackish; the hind toe well 
developed but minute; iris reddish brown; eye-ring red. Adult in winter; Simi- 
lar, but sides of head and hind-neck overlaid with dark gray or plumbeous, and 
with plumbeous-slate around eye, most sharply in front. /mmature: Terminal 
portion of tail, and exposed portion of primaries exhibited by folded wing, black— 
the four outer primaries extensively white on inner webs, the color encroaching 
upon outer web and upon tip of the 5th, black vanishing with subterminal bar on 
6th; a long black patch formed by bastard wing, lesser and median wing-coverts, 
and portion of secondaries; a broad bar of black on lower nape, and broad dabs 
of the same on sides of neck; some black smearing about eye, bill black. Length 
16.00-17.50 (406.4-444.5) ; wing 12.00 (304.8) ; tail 4.80 (121.9) ; bill 1.35 (34.3); 
tarsus 1.35 (34.3). 
Recognition Marks.—Crow size; blackish feet of adult; solid black of ex- 
treme wing-tip; black less extensive than in Larus delawarensis. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Nest: on ledges of rocky cliffs, 
of grass, moss, and seaweed, Eggs: 3 or 4, yellowish or olive-buff, pale greenish 
gray, etc., with spots and blotches of chocolate-brown and obscure lilac. Av. size, 
2.26x 1.61 (57.4 Xx 40.9). 
General Range.—Preeding on the coasts and islands of Bering Sea and the 
North Pacific; south irregularly in winter, not commonly as far as Victoria, but 
occasionally to southern or even Lower California. 
Range in Washington.—Rare winter visitors on Puget Sound and West 
Coast. 
Authorities.—[“ Pacific kittiwake,” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 (1885), 
23.] Anthony: Auk, XXIII. April 1906, p. 130. L?. E. 
Specimens.—( U. of W.) Prov. C. E? 
a. A term used to designate the plumage of the back, scapulars, and wings collectively, and which is 
often differently colored from that of the remaining parts in birds of this family. 
