K ITTIWAKE GULL 



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HIS beautiful little Gull is one of the most abundant of its 

 genus throughout the British Islands, but as it is always 

 found about the cliffs and rugged headlands or rock faces 

 on our coasts, during the breeding season, it is only in 

 districts where these occur that its colonies need be looked 

 for. 



Perhaps the best known of these cliff-sites are the 



Bass Rock, the Fame Islands, and Flamborough Head on the east coast; on 

 the south coast there are many on the rugged coasts of Devon and Cornwall ; the 

 Kittiwake is also common on the Welsh coast, and on all the rocky islands and 

 coasts of Scotland, where there are some enormous colonies : it is also common 

 on the Orkneys and Shetlands and the Hebrides. In Ireland it is also widely 

 distributed, and breeds in all suitable rocky localities. 



The Kittiwake, unlike its congeners, is seldom, if ever, seen feeding in the 

 fields, preferring to obtain its food on the water, where it may be seen pouncing 

 down on the myriads of little fish which come up with the tide, reminding one 

 rather of the actions of the Terns. It is very powerful on the wing, and is 

 perfectly at home when a gale is blowing, often hanging suspended in the teeth 

 of the wind, absolutely stationary, without a movement of its extended wings. 

 The cry of the Kittiwake, from which it takes its name, may be represented by 

 the syllables ' Kitti-valt kitti-vah; and does not sound unlike 'get-away get- 

 away,' when the birds are disturbed at their nesting-places; it goes through 

 various modifications as the birds chatter among themselves on the cliffs. 



The food of the Kittiwake consists largely of small fish, though it also 

 takes small crabs and shellfish, and may be seen about many of our harbours 

 during the winter, picking up small floating scraps of refuse: it also follows 

 the fishing-boats and picks up the fish which are thrown over as being too 

 small for sale. 



Early in spring the Kittiwakes return to their old breeding-haunts and 

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