650 



GA 



LARID.E. 



LARIDJi. 





RISSA TRIDACTYLA (Linnaeus*). 



THE KITTIWAKE GULL. 



Larus tridactylus. 



RISSA, Stephens^. Bill rather short and stout, the upper mandible consider- 

 ably decurved to the tip, the lower mandible compressed, with the intercrural 

 space long and narrow ; nostrils median, linear, oblong. Wings long, pointed, the 

 first primary slightly exceeding the second. Tail slightly but perceptibly forked 

 in the young : nearly square in the adult; tarsus very short in proportion to the 

 foot ; hind toe very small and usually obsolete ; claws rather small, slightly curved. 



THE KITTIWAKE is a Gull which is generally distributed 

 on the shores of the British Islands, and remains with us 

 in larger or smaller numbers throughout the year. Of 



* Larus tridactylus, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 224 (1766). 

 t Stephens, ex Leacb, in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. i. p. 180 (1825). 



