564 LARID^E. 



Wight, volume ii. page 74, mentions a very curious fact in 

 reference to a Gull. He says, " In the next parish to this 

 there is a Gull, either the Larus hylernus, or L. rissa, 

 which was brought up there about twenty-seven years ago. 

 There is a small piece of water which it used to frequent, 

 but for many years it has nearly forsaken this, and spends 

 its time, either sitting upon the rails of one or two cottages 

 to which it confines its visits, or flying at liberty around 

 the country. Every spring, when the breeding season 

 arrives, it leaves the parish, which is inland, and pairing 

 with one of the wild birds, inhabits the white cliffs on the 

 coast,* whence it returns again alone when the breeding- 

 season is over. It is so tame at other times with those 

 whom it knows, that it will come into their cottages and 

 eat out of their hands, but will not allow itself to be 

 approached thus closely by strangers." 



The Kittiwake breeds high up on rocky cliffs, and is found 

 by the egg-collectors to select very narrow ledges. The 

 nests are formed of sea-weeds and are generally placed very 

 close together. Three eggs is the most usual number in 

 each nest : these are two inches two lines and a half in 

 length, by one inch and seven lines in breadth ; of a stone- 

 colour, tinged with olive, thickly spotted with ash-grey, 

 and two shades of light brown. The principal food of the 

 Kittiwake is the small surface-swimming fry of fishes, and 

 other soft marine animals. 



Besides breeding on many of the high ranges of cliffs 

 along the southern line of our shores, this bird breeds also 



* The circumstance of this bird visiting the cliffs of the Isle of Wight to breed, 

 induces me to believe that it was a Kittiwake, which species breed there every 

 year in great numbers. Our Common Gull, to which Gmelin applied the term 

 Larus hybernus, breeds on low flat islands or marshes whenever it has the power 

 of choosing, and of such ground there is plenty on the Lymington and Hurst 

 Castle side of the Southampton Water. 



