278 MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF THE ARCTIC 



The familiar kittiwake, or three-toed gull (Rissa tridactyla), is 

 likewise circumpolar, with a breeding - area extending from the 

 farthest north down to northern France, the Kurile Islands, and the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence. In colour this gull is slaty grey above with a white tail and grey 

 wings, of which the outer primaries are tipped with black and the secondaries with 

 white. The beak is greenish yellow, and the three toes characteristic of the genus 

 are black. This gull is exclusively a sea-bird, frequenting high rocky shores, and 

 breeding on lofty cliffs, where it dwells with razorbills above and guillemots below 

 in such enormous numbers that the sky is darkened by their wings and the ears 

 deafened with their crieb. Kittiwakes are excellent swimmers, and the most grace- 

 ful in flight of all the gulls. When in search of prey, they fly slowly and deliber- 

 ately, but so soon as a fish is sighted, they dart through the crests of the waves in 

 a downward curve, dive like a flash, and never rise without a fish in their beaks. 

 If the fish be not too large, it is swallowed at once, but if of too great bulk for 

 this, it is borne ashore to be devoured piecemeal. 



The beautiful ivory-gull (Paqophila ebumea) takes its name 

 Ivory-Gull. . J & v . 1 



from its ivory-white plumage, relieved by the black feet, greenish 



yellow beak passing into bluish grey at the base, and the red ring round the eye. 



Even in winter this lovely gull seldom strays farther south than the limits of the 



ice, and its northern summer range is perhaps greater than that of any of its 



kindred. Occasionally a straggler reaches the British Isles, or even the north of 



France, while on the American side the species has been seen in New Brunswick. 



Wedge-Tailed The wedge-tailed gull (Rhodostethia rosea), which is another of 



GuU - the Arctic members of the group, may be recognised by the grey 



back, rosy flanks, and the narrow black collar round the neck. The short beak is 



black, and the feet are red. This exclusively Arctic species, which was discovered 



by Sir James Ross on Melville Peninsula in 1823, has been seen to the north of 



Spitzbergen, in Franz Josef-land, in Bering Strait, and north of Siberia, so that 



it is regarded as circumpolar. Only a few stragglers have been met with beyond 



the Arctic Circle. 



The skuas, or pirate-gulls, are provided with long curved talons 

 Great Skua. . , & . . 



characteristic of predaceous birds, and, as a matter of fact, in general 



habits they are much more like frigate-birds than ordinary gulls. The group is 



noticeable on account of being common to the Arctic and the Antarctic region 



The largest of the northern forms is the great skua (Stercorarius catarrhactes), 



whose colour is mottled brown above and pale chestnut below, with the outer 



primaries white at the base, and the hooked beak and feet black. This fierce bird 



feeds on animal substances of all kinds, whether alive or dead, but is specially fond 



of fish, which it occasionally captures for itself, but generally steals from other 



birds. With the quickness and strength of a hawk, a skua attacks any bird 



weaker than itself, which it kills by one bite in the skull, clutching the body in 



its strong claws and swallowing the flesh piecemeal. Skuas never breed in 



company with other birds, but in colonies of a hundred or more of their own kind, 



usually on some rocky shore, or upland moor, where there are springs or ponds, 



perhaps a quarter of a mile from the sea. They seldom breed very far within 



the Arctic Circle, their favourite haunts being just south of this, such as Iceland. 



