312 THE KITT1WAKE. 



of Wight. Generally speaking, it may be termed 

 a summer visitant, the great mass of birds leaving 

 their stations after incubation, a few. only remainiflV 

 over winter or migrating from some other latitude. 

 Fleming mentions it in winter ; Mr. Yarrell is con- 

 fident he has seen it in winter on the coasts of 

 Dorsetshire or Hampshire ; on the Scotch coasts, 

 however, it is certainly rare at that season ; in the 

 Firth of Forth it is sometimes seen, and in January 

 last (1843) Mr. Fen ton in Edinburgh had a newly 

 killed specimen, which we examined. It breeds on 

 precipitous rocks, never we believe in low situs^- 

 tions, and on approaching one of their stations 

 the air resounds with the call of " Kittiwake," 

 uttered distinctly; whence, without doubt, their 

 common name. It is a gull which does not venture 

 inland, and feeds exclusively on the productions of 

 the sea. These birds often follow the shoals of young 

 fish and are shot for the sake of the feathers in great 

 numbers, apparently not willing to leave their prey. 

 On the European shores it ranges as far south as 

 Italy ; and, Mr. Yarrell states, is found in winter 

 at Genoa ; but it seems to be more a northern bird ; 

 occurring abundantly in Iceland, Spitzbergen, &c., 

 and was met with by the Arctic voyagers in the 

 highest latitudes which were reached. Mr. Audu- 

 bon records it in the autumnal and winter months, 

 from the mouth of the Mississippi to the coast of 

 Maine, and found it breeding on the famous Gannet 

 rock in the gulf of St. Laurence, and on the shores 

 of Labrador. 



