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this bird builds on the ledges of the cliff-face a nest of seaweed and 

 grasses, in which it lays its two or three eggs, stone colourj spotted 

 and blotched with grey and brown. In colour this bird is a 

 delicate grey on the back with the breast and under parts pure white, 

 the eye is large, full, and dark, and the bill greenish-lemon. On its 

 first arrival on its nesting ground, before its plumage is spiled by con- 

 tact with the nest or rocks, it is exquisitely dainty in its purity of 

 colour. A visit to the breeding haunt of a colony of sea fowl, is to 

 many memorable, and dominant above many points of recollection 

 may be that of lying on the short wind-swept turf, blue sky above, 

 blue sea belw, while the gentle cry of " Kit-i-wake, Ki-hi-ti-wake," 

 sounds ceaselessly as the gleaming white birds circle round their nests. 

 The young of th Kittiwake resemble their parents in general 

 colour, but are marked with black amid the grey of the back and 

 wings. In August they begin their southward flight, and by the 

 end of September, the thronging, busy colony is tenantless and 

 deserted, to be so till spring again comes round. 



Gull, Lesser Black-backed This bird, a resident in Britain 

 throughout the year, is numerous and widely distributed along pur 

 coast lines. It is a large and handsome bird, white in colour but with, 

 as the name denotes, back and wings of blue black colour, and with 

 a large and powerful beak. The young do not become mature until 

 their fourth year, and are until then of a dull white colour, speckled 

 with grey. The Lesser Black-backed Gull has few, if any, good 

 qualities, nay, is indeed both thief and murderer. They nest most 

 usually in the vicinity of other sea fowl, and are ruthless robbers 

 of the eggs and young of such species as Guillemots and Kitti- 

 wakes, selecting a moment when the parent bird is absent, to make 

 a dash and seiz their prey. Their nest is a slight structure of dry 

 grasses, placed upon the green slopes of the cliffs along our coast-line 

 and islands, but occasionally they will select an island on some 

 fresh water lake, or even the heather of the open moorland. The 

 eggs are three in number, somewhat variable in shade, but usually 

 of a greenish stone ground-colour, spotted and blotched with grey 

 and black, and are not to be distinguished from those of the 

 Herring-Gull, save by identification of the bird as she rises from 

 the nest. 



Kestrel The Kestrel is the commonest of our British hawks, and 

 is a harmless inoffensive bird, but alas 1 to the indiscriminating ey 

 of the game-keeper, a hawk is a hawk, and the mouse loving 

 " windhover " has oft-times to fall the victim of his gun. The food of 

 the Kestrel consists almost entirely of mice and beetles, and it is while 

 in pursuit of the former, that it may so frequently be seen hovering 

 high in air, there poised for a few seconds absolutely motionless, ere 

 it darts down to seize the mouse it has been watching. The Kestrel 

 is a handsome bird, the general colour above dull chestnut, with a 

 black spot in the centre of each feather, in the male bird the head 

 and neck are steely blue, as is also the tail, the latter being tipped 

 with white ; th throat is buff, the breast and undersides reddish 

 fawn, streaked with black. In the female the blue of th head 

 and tail is absent. The Kestrel is partially migratory, but is found 

 in Britain throughout the year. In the winter it will leave the high 

 lands and descend to avail itself of the less severe conditions of the 

 lower lying parts. A number migrate to the continent whil an 

 immigration of a certain number takes place to the British Isles from 

 more northern countries. The Kestrel nests in cliffs, old ruins, or 

 even in the old and deserted nest of a crow or wood-pigeon. The 



