BIRDS OF NEW YORK 121 



Rissa tridactyla (Linnaeus) 

 Kittiwake 



Plate 5 



Larus tridactylus Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. lo. 1758. 1:136 



DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 313 

 Rissa tridactyla A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. ^o- 4° 



ris'sa, Icelandic name; tridac'tyla, Gr. T/jiSaKTuXos, three-toed 



Description. Head, neck, tail and under parts white ; back and wings 

 pearl-gray or dark bluish; outer web of the first primary and tip of wing 

 to length of three inches black, the division being squarely across the end 

 of the wing; primaries after the first tipped with white ; bill yellow ; feet black; 

 iris reddish brown; eyelids red; hind toe a mere knob without any nail. In 

 winter: Small black crescent in front of the eye; back of head and neck, 

 and the sides of the breast tinged with bluish gray, changing to blackish in 

 the ear region. Young: Crescent in front of eye, ear spot, back of neck, 

 part of the wing coverts, band at tip of tail, except outer feathers black; 

 more black on the primaries than in the adult ; bill dusky. 



Length 16-17. 7 inches; wing 12.25; tail 4.5; bill 1.3-1.5; tarsus 1.3; 

 middle toe and claw 1.8. 



In winter and immature plumage the Kittiwake bears superficial 

 resemblance to the Bonaparte gull, but by referring to the description given 

 above, and plate 6, the distinction is easily manifest. Furthermore 

 the absence of the hind toe in the present species is an easy mark of identi- 

 fication when the bird is in hand. 



Giraud, DeKay and Lawrence mentioned the Kittiwake as occurring 

 on the shores of Long Island. J- H. Batty in Forest and Stream, volume 

 7, page 164, treats of it as a winter visitant on our coast. Mr Dutcher 

 calls it a common migrant in late fall, and an uncommon winter resident, 

 occurring some distance off shore, his dates ranging from November 13 to 

 March 17. It is apparently rare on the inland waters of the State. William 

 Hopkins has reported a specimen taken at Auburn, N. Y., January 4, 1854 

 [see Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. Proc. 1856, 5 : 13]. One from Seneca lake is recorded 

 in the Auburn list; one from Oak Orchard, Orleans county, April 10, 1881, 

 by David Bruce; one from Constantia, Oswego county, November 9, 1890, 



