184 THE GULLS 



The notes are said to differ considerably from those of the glaucous- 

 gull. Hantzsch writes the cry as " gi, gi, gi, grrr" and says that it 

 has notes like those of L. glaucus, but softer, " Gag gagag gogogogog 

 gigigigig." Faber writes them more briefly as "ik-knirrrr, giow" (like 

 that of L. marinus), and "Aoo"; while Saxby, without venturing to 

 express the note by letters, says it has a character of its own, and 

 proceeds to compare it with that of the goose. 



Soon after the middle of September the first arrivals from the 

 north appear in Iceland, and from that date onward some may be 

 seen throughout the winter till their departure about the end of April 

 for their breeding-grounds. 



THE KITTIWAKE. 

 [F. B. KIRKMAN] 



This, the most fascinating of our Gulls, differs in marked particulars 

 from the other members of its subfamily, and is placed in a genus 

 (Rissa) apart. One of its distinctive peculiarities, the vestigial first 

 or hind toe, is indicated by its specific name tridactyla (Greek : tri, 

 thrice ; daktidos, a digit) ; all that usually remains of this toe is a warty 

 excrescence with a small claw. In all other genera of Gulls it is 

 developed though short, too short indeed to be of much, if of any, use. 

 The gap that divides Rissa from Larus, to which genus belong the 

 species treated in the preceding sections of this chapter, becomes 

 still more apparent when their young are compared. The down-clad 

 nestlings of the latter have the head and back more or less con- 

 spicuously spotted, striped or barred with shades of black, brown, and 

 buff. The nestling of the kittiwake has the head unspotted white 

 with a grey tinge, and the back ash-grey, with very faint traces of darker 

 motilings, which may be regarded, like the hind toe, as vestigial. A 

 glance at the photograph of the nestling kittiwake on Plate XLIV. (p. 



