THE KITTIWAKE 185 



116), and the nestling common and herring-gulls on Plate XLV. (p. 124), 

 will make clearer the differences here noted. That the nestlings 

 of Larus should retain a spotted and striped down is intelligible, 

 seeing that for the most part they live on the ground, where their 

 broken and irregular coloration has some protective value, in any 

 case more protective value than a plumage which has no markings 

 to break the outline of the body and so render it less conspicuous 

 against its background. It is also intelligible that the nestling 

 kittiwake can have no use for a similar coloration on the ledges 

 of the sea cliffs or caves where it is invariably born, but why it should 

 have developed its present coloration is at present inexplicable. 

 The fledgling is also quite unlike those of Larus in certain respects, 

 notably the dark semi-collar and the black on the wing-coverts. 

 It is less unlike its parents than are they. 



The breeding-range of the kittiwake lies chiefly within the 

 Arctic Circle ; its colonies are found all along the northern coasts 

 and islands of America, Asia, and Europe. The largest, perhaps, is 

 near the North Cape, on the cliffs at Svaerholtklubben, which numbers 

 some millions, so many that, when the birds are disturbed by a 

 gunshot, they look, as they rush from the rock, like "a snowstorm 

 in a whirlwind." 1 The most northerly known is in Franz-Josef Land, 

 at about 80 N. latitude, where eggs were recorded by Nan sen and 

 Collett, but not till after June 17. On June 13 and afterwards single 

 birds or small parties were observed daily as far north as 82 20', 

 wherever there was open water, and by Sverdrup at 84 52'. They 

 were met with at 81 up to August 23, arid a few degrees southward 

 in flocks on the edge of the ice as late as September, and were the 

 last birds seen in those regions. 2 They breed also in the Temperate 

 Zone, including many localities in our Isles, and in winter range south 

 to the Tropic of Cancer, and even beyond into equatorial waters. 



At their British breeding-haunts they arrive usually in March, 



1 R. Collett, Bird Life of Arctic Norway ; Seebohm, British Birds, Hi. 343. 

 * Collett and Nansen, Nonvegian North Polar Expedition (1893-95) Scientific Results, vol. i, 

 chap. iv. p. 10. 



VOL. III. 2 A 



