PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 133 



from the common-gull, with which alone it could be confounded in the field, by 

 the absence of the white " mirror " on the tips of the outermost primaries. When 

 expanded in flight the wing has a conspicuous black triangular tip. The sexes 

 are alike, and there is a fairly well-marked seasonal change of coloration. (PI. 108.) 

 Length 16 in. [40640 mm.]. The mantle and wings are of deep bluish slate, the 

 blue extending far up the primaries, save the outermost, which is black along the 

 outer web and for about two inches at the tip : the fourth and fifth quills have 

 white tips and a subterminal band of black, the rest grey : the lower back and 

 tail, like the head, neck, and under parts, are pure white, and the scapulars and 

 secondaries are tipped with white. In winter the occiput is washed with grey, 

 and there is a faint patch of grey in front of the eye and behind the ear-coverts. 

 The orbital rim is red. The beak is greenish yellow with a tinge of red at the base, 

 the inside of the mouth a deep orange-red, the legs and toes black, and the iris 

 is brown. The fledgling and immature birds have a more or less complete band 

 of black or greyish black across the nape, a second broad band across the back of 

 the base of the neck, and black or greyish black marginal and minor coverts, 

 forming a broad band across the outstretched wing. The tail has a broad ter- 

 minal band of black, and the coverts of the primaries are black : the four outer- 

 most primaries are also of a dull slaty black, thereby again differing from those of 

 the adult. The beak and legs are greyish to black, and the iris is dark brown. 

 The nestling in down has the head white, tinged with grey, the back ash-grey, 

 with very faint traces of darker mottlings, and the under parts white, [w. p. p.] 



2. Distribution. In England the kittiwake is very local as a breeding 

 species ; it is confined to Lundy Island, the coasts of Wales and its adjoining 

 islands, including Anglesey, the Isle of Man, and, on the east side, the Yorkshire 

 cliffs and the Fame Islands. It used to breed in the Scillies, but has not done 

 so since 1900 (Zoologist, 1896, p. 344). x In Scotland it is more widely distributed, 

 and colonies are found on the east side at St. Abb's Head, the Bass, the Isle 

 of May, and in Kincardine and Aberdeen, as well as in small numbers on the 

 coast of the Moray area. On the west side it is chiefly confined to the islands, 

 where there are innumerable colonies on the Inner and Outer Hebrides, that 

 on the Shiants being probably the largest in our islands. On the northern 

 coast, the Orkneys and Shetlands, it is also very numerous. In Ireland, though 

 very plentiful, it is decidedly local as a breeding species, resorting only to pre- 

 cipitous cliffs and islands. On the east side it only nests on the islands off the 

 1 Possibly a few pairs still breed in Cornwall near the Land's End. 



