448 LAKID.E 



fessor W. J. Sollas kindly invited me to join his expedition 

 to Lambay Island, off the Dublin coast. We remained 

 there for ten days, sleeping under canvas, and during that 

 time many good opportunities were afforded of studying 

 these Gulls, during the breeding-season, on the cliffs (Plate 

 XL VIII.). I witnessed several tussles, but the birds never 

 seemed to cause each other serious damage. I have seen 

 two (presumably males), enter into combat in order to gain 

 sole right of a suitable nesting-site, the female all the while 

 sitting closely on her eggs or young. The fight begins by 

 the birds ' pick-axing ' each other with their beaks, next the 

 wings are raised, and the pugilists closing in, endeavour 

 to dislodge each other from the cliff. Sometimes the 

 weaker one gets tired of the entertainment and flies off ; 

 less often the two birds, with unabated fury, sticking to each 

 other, roll and flutter down the cliff almost to the sea, and 

 then rise again into the air in hot pursuit. But the aerial 

 combat never seemed to last long, the birds, after one or 

 two swoops, settling down each on his rightful place. 

 From this one must not infer that the Kittiwake is a 

 pugnacious type of bird, the scenes described being excep- 

 tional rather than otherwise. In fact, the harmony which, 

 as a rule, reigns in Kittiwake-colonies, and the gentle 

 behaviour of these birds to one another, are most pleasing 

 to behold. 



From the summit of the cliff several pairs may be 

 seen nestling close to one another, ' billing ' and ' cooing ' 

 long before they commence to incubate. Later in the 

 season a male may be noticed speeding towards the cliff 

 with a fish in his beak. 1 For this he receives extra 

 caresses from his spouse, who, with uplifted wings, greets 

 his return. And now he raises his wings in response, while 

 both cross their necks from side to side. 2 



The nests take some time to construct, and during 

 March and April the members of the colony are busy at 

 work. The materials used are grass and seaweeds in which 

 feathers occasionally get mixed up. These, compounded 

 with a basis of soft muddy clay, are pressed into a rather 



1 The males feed the sitting-females during the breeding-season. - 



2 Even in the early breeding-season, before the male has commenced 

 to feed the female, he is greeted home in the same way. I have watched 

 the habits of Kittiwakes in several localities, as early as the first week 

 in March. 



