[2.98] BIRDSOFOREGON 



Walker that contained a variety of small beetles and a few other insects. 

 Undoubtedly many of the insects eaten by these and other gulls in the 

 winter are picked up along the streams and bay shores, although some 

 of them may well be taken from the cultivated fields, as the gulls habit- 

 ually forage over such areas during heavy storms. 



Pacific Kittiwake: 



Rissa tridactyla pollicaris Ridgway 



DESCRIPTION. "Appearance gull-like; hind toe minute, with or without a nail; 

 feet and legs black; tarsus shorter than middle toe with claw; bill yellow, with 

 greatest depth at base; tail slightly emarginate, or forked. Adults: back and wings 

 light bluish gray, five outer primaries tipped with black; rest of plumage pure white. 

 Young: like adults, but with black or slaty on back of neck and across ear coverts." 

 (Bailey) Downy young: "The newly hatched young is covered with long, soft, 

 glossy down, which is white and spotless, but tinged basally with yellowish gray 

 and buffy on the back and thighs, and tipped with dusky, giving it a grizzly appear- 

 ance, quite unlike other young gulls." (Bent) Size: "Length 16.00-17.70, wing 

 iz.2-5, bill 1.40-1.50." (Bailey) Nest: Usually placed on tiny shelves or projections 

 on vertical cliffs, composed of grass and mud cemented with mud. Eggs: Usually z, 

 gray or buff, spotted with drab or gray. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on coast and islands of North Pacific, Bering Sea, 

 and adjacent Arctic Ocean. Winters south along Pacific Coast casually at least to 

 northern Lower California. In Oregon: Irregular winter visitor along coast. 



THE PACIFIC KITTIWAKE is an irregular winter visitor to the Oregon coast. 

 When in the hand, it can be identified readily by the rudimentary or 

 missing hind toe. In the air, its long, pointed wings would be most 

 likely to attract attention. In the adult plumage, the solid-black tips of 

 the primaries, unbroken by white spots or "mirrors," distinguish it from 

 other wintering gulls, and immature birds display a black cape on the 

 back of the neck that, among other species present on the Oregon coast, 

 is found only in the much smaller Bonaparte's Gull. Observers fortunate 

 enough to be on the coast during the winter should keep a sharp watch 

 for this beautiful little gull. 



Prill (i89ib) recorded a Pacific Kittiwake from Sweet Home, Linn 

 County, on December 16, 1890. This bird, now in the University of 

 Oregon, proved on examination to be a Ring-billed Gull. Woodcock 

 (1902.) recorded this same bird and also stated that the species was found 

 at Yaquina. Jewett (1914^ recorded the first actual specimen a bird 

 picked up dead on the beach at Netarts Bay on March 13, 1913, by Murie. 

 Alex Walker took the second specimen, also at Netarts, on December 2.5, 

 192.0. Since that time, Braly, Jewett, and Gabrielson have found numerous 

 dead specimens on the beaches of Lincoln, Tillamook, and Clatsop Coun- 

 ties, and Jewett caught a live bird in his hand at Bayocean. These speci- 

 mens were taken between December 2.7 and March 13, in i932-~33 and 

 1934-35, when the birds were more frequent than usual. 



