104 



which it associates while feeding on dead whales. 

 It has also, we are informed, a strong and harsh 

 voice. Except when engaged in breeding, it is 

 occasionally met with on the open sea. Very 

 few instances of its visiting Britain have been 

 recorded. The first specimen described appears 

 to have been a young bird shot in Balta Sound, 

 Shetland, in December, 1822. Others have since 

 been killed in the Frith of Clyde, and on the 

 west coast of Ireland. 



GULL, KITTIWAKE. 



TARROCK. 

 LABUS TRIDACTYLUS, Lath. 



The Kittiwakes arrive along our coasts the 

 end of April, and generally disappear in October. 

 They build their nests in vast numbers on high 

 maritime cliffs, generally such as are frequented 

 by Auks, Guillemots, and other sea-birds breed- 

 ing places which are much more numerous in 

 Scotland than in England. The nests, which are 

 generally placed on the lower parts of the cliffs, 

 are bulky in shape, and are formed of grass and 

 sea-weeds. They each contain two or three eggs 

 of a broad oval form, about two inches in length 

 and an inch and a half in breadth. They are of 

 a pale yellowish grey, greenish white, or light 



