ALONG ROCK-BOUND COASTS. 217 



feather or two is formed. In this the female 

 deposits her single egg, which is dirty white 

 in ground colour, very faintly spotted and 

 blotched with brown and gray. But one nestling 

 is reared ; and as soon as the young are able 

 to fly the great colony begin to desert the land 

 and betake themselves to the sea for the re- 

 mainder of the year. The food of the Puffin 

 is fish, especially sprats, and the fry of the 

 herring, small crabs, and crustaceans. 



From the Auks it is an easy step to the 

 LARID.E, or Gulls. Five species of these graceful, 

 charming birds have their summer haunts along 

 the rock-bound coasts. Most closely associated 

 of them all with the cliffs is the K ITTI WAKE on most 

 (Larus tridactyhis}. The other species breed 

 indiscriminately on low, rocky islands, as well as nc 

 on ocean cliffs', but the pretty Kittiwake is never 

 known to make its nest on any but the steepest 

 and most inaccessible precipices. Two things 

 enable you to identify this Gull with ease. The 

 first is its rock-haunting habits, and the second is 

 its unmistakable note, which resembles the sound 

 of its own name thus, kitty -a-ake, which by a 

 slight stretch of the imagination may be likened 

 to the words, ah -get -away, get-a-way. The 

 Kittiwake, as is the case with nearly all the 

 Gulls, in fact, is a gregarious bird, and numbers 

 make their nests together on the face of the same 

 cliff. What is also of even greater interest is the 

 fact that it probably pairs for life, and uses the 

 same nest yearly, provided the wintry storms 

 have not destroyed it. The Kittiwakes nest 

 much lower down the cliffs than the Guillemots, 

 and often in places where nothing but a bird 



