2^4 THE BIHDS OF SUSSEX. 



August Ist^ continued for a fortnight. Hundreds of young 

 birds were left dead and dying from starvation in tlieir nests. 

 On one day seven hundred were sent to Clovelly, on another 

 five hundred^ and so on^ about nine thousand of these birds 

 being destroyed in the course of this wanton onslaught upon 

 them. The Kittiwake is said to be very good eating. In 

 Yarrell (B. B. vol. iii. p. 654) is found the following : — " In 

 olden times this Gull was considered good food, and Sir Robert 

 Sibbald says that 'The Kittiweak is as good meat as a 

 partridge/ an opinion endorsed in later times by those 

 inhabitants of Scotland who relish Gannets. There is aa 

 old story, told by Pennant, of a gentleman who, as a 

 whet to his appetite before dinner, ate six and did not find 

 himself a bit less hungry than when he began. Sir James 

 C. Ross says, ' We killed enough to supply our party with 

 several excellent meals, and found them delicious food, 

 perfectly free f j'om any unpleasant flavour.^ " 



IVORY GULL. 



Pagophila ehurnea. 



This inhabitant of the Arctic regions is an extremely rare 

 visitor to our coast. In its native haunts it feeds on the 

 blubber of whales and seals, and on any animal matter, putrid 

 or fresh. The first egg of this bird, the only one in the nest, 

 was foimd by Sir Leopold M'Clintock on the beach of one 

 of the Polynia Islands, by him named Ireland's Eye, in latitude 

 78°, during the Arctic Expedition of 1852-53. He brought 

 this egg to Ireland, and it is now in the Museum of the Royal 

 Dublin Society. He states that the nest was built of moss, 

 with a little white down and a few feathers. See ' Ibis,^ 1866, 



