194 By Leafy Ways. 



certainty to have been taken in British waters during 

 this century. 



There is faint hope of their survival in some of 

 their remoter haunts near Iceland, and although it has 

 been suggested that the gairfowl may have retired 

 northward, and that in some unexplored region round 

 the Pole it may yet be rediscovered, there is only one 

 doubtful record of the occurrence of a great auk 

 within the Arctic Circle. 



The commonest of the larger sea birds on the wintry 

 shore are the gulls. Some of them pass through so 

 many alterations of shade and marking that it becomes 

 a little difficult to recognise with certainty any particular 

 gull at all seasons. 



The herring gull, one of the commonest and also 

 one of the largest of the tribe, takes nearly five years 

 to acquire its perfect tones of white and grey. 



The black-headed gulls lose their dark hoods in 

 the autumn moult and resume them in the early 

 spring. 



It is in its immature plumage that the graceful kitti- 

 wake is slaughtered in thousands for the sake of its 

 prettily barred wings. It is a widely distributed 

 species, and has far more claim to be called the 

 ' common ' gull than the bird which passes under that 

 name ; it is, indeed, doubtful whether the latter breeds 

 in England at all. 



The kittiwake is often used for food, and is cele- 

 brated in some places as a sort of tonic. A story is 



