KITTIWAKE GULL 447 



that of other Gulls ; when fishing, the bird may be seen 

 sometimes poising like a Tern and dropping suddenly to 

 the water, under which it can swim in pursuit of fish. 



Voice. This is the only one of our Gulls which may be 

 said to possess melody in its voice. Even when loudest, 

 the note is full of music and pathos. The oft-repeated 

 echoing chant resounds from the cliffs beneath, now waxing 

 to its fullest until it bursts into a glad chorus, now waning 

 into a silence broken only by the roaring of the waves 

 washing the beetling cliffs. The note, once heard, is hardly 

 forgotten ; it sounds remarkably like the syllables, kltti- 

 wake, kitti-wake, kittl-wcike ; hence the bird's name. 



Away from its breeding-haunts this Gull is compara- 

 tively silent, indeed, I have seldom heard it utter any note 

 when flying over the sea. 



Food. Being essentially marine in its habits, it lives 

 almost entirely on small fish captured on or near the surface. 

 It does not appear to be an offal-eater, but will accept 

 morsels of bread, meat, &c., cast out from vessels. 



Between August and October immature and adult birds 

 may be seen fishing along the coasts. Later in the season 

 they go out to sea, and few are seen in winter. 



Nest. Early in March, on the ledges and narrow shelf- 

 like fissures of sheer, rocky cliffs, rising often several 

 hundred feet out of the sea, the sociable Kittiwakes gather 

 together in hundreds and thousands for breeding-purposes, 

 fraternising freely with other cliff-resorting birds, especially 

 Guillemots, which show a like taste in their nesting-sites. 

 In suitable situations, such as on the weathered face of a 

 great limestone rock, every available projection may be 

 occupied by a pair of Kittiwakes ; indeed, adjacent nests 

 often touch one another, or a long shelf may accommodate 

 a line of families, below and above which similar ' flats ' 

 may be noticed. These horizontal ' tiers ' of white birds, 

 separated by an alternating line of dark rock, give the 

 cliff a stratified appearance when viewed some distance 

 away. It is remarkable how well each occupant knows 

 its own little ledge, to which it may be seen ascending 

 from the sea, alighting as quickly as any pigeon would on 

 the platform of its own particular part of the dovecot. 

 Still, as among all other gregarious creatures, ' give and 

 take ' squabbles at times arise. This I have noticed oftener 

 where the colonies are densely crowded and the space 

 rather more curtailed than is usual. In June, 1893, Pro- 



