346 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



In winter plumage the head and neck are 

 streaked and spotted, with gray ; the mantle is 

 pale gray ; the bill yellow ; secondary feathers 

 with white tips ; legs and feet yellowish-pink. 

 Its length is twenty-two inches. It is somewhat 

 similar to the glaucous gull in plumage, but is a 

 smaller and more graceful bird. 



The kittiwake gull is distinguishable from the 

 other gulls by having no hind-toe. It is partly 

 resident, nesting amongst the rocky cliffs where- 

 ever such exist throughout the coasts of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, and ever selecting the most 

 precipitous and inaccessible places for the purpose. 

 Dixon, in ' Our Rarer Birds,' thus makes mention 

 of this gull : * High above the roar of the waters, 

 as they dash against the solid walls of cliff, the 

 kittiwake's unmistakable cry is heard, sounding 

 like get-away -ah-get-away> and the birds may be 

 seen clustering on the rocks far down the awful 

 depths, only a few feet above the restless waves.' 

 The kittiwake never leaves the sea, save for the 

 purpose of breeding. It rears its young on the 

 stupendous boundary walls of the vast ocean, 

 and when domestic duties are over, it leaves the 

 rocks and wanders far and wide over the wild 

 and lonely watery wastes. The kittiwake must 

 be known to all those who have any acquaint- 

 ance with the more rocky portions of our coasts, 

 though probably to many observers a mere gull, 

 ' and nothing more.' Yet it is a bird whose 

 ways and mode of life are full of interest. It will 

 follow the ships at sea day and night on untiring 



