KITTIWAKE GULL 449 



compact mass. The outer wall is composed chiefly of mud, 

 which adheres to the ledge and fits on it in a most secure 

 manner. The dimensions of the nests vary in accordance 

 with the available platform space. 



The owners spend a considerable part of the day guard- 

 ing their homes 1 (space being at a premium, I presume), 

 for six weeks or more prior to hatching. The lowest nests 

 are often but a few feet from the base of the cliff, and the 

 uppermost ones may be two or three hundred feet above. 

 I have not seen many nests placed at the summit. 



The eggs, two to three in number, are greyish-white 

 or dull stone-colour, blotched and zoned with lighter and 

 darker shades of brown. 



Incubation begins in May, but is not general until the 

 end of that month or early in June. 



The Kittiwake is an extremely abundant breeding-species 

 round the British coast, resorting to islands as well as to 

 the mainland. Multitudes of birds compose some colonies, 

 and may be seen on the cliffs of the Orkneys, Shetlands, and 

 Hebrides. The Shiant Islands possess probably the largest 

 assemblages of Kittiwakes in Great Britain. 



On the Irish coast may be mentioned Eathlin Island, 

 Horn Head, and Tormore ; the latter is described by Mr. 

 Ussher as "a colossal pillar-like rock off the western 

 peninsula" of Donegal. On the cliffs of Moher, co. Clare, 

 Kittiwakes breed several hundred feet above the sea-level. 

 Smaller colonies are too numerous to mention ; on Ireland's 

 Eye and on Lambay Island, on the east coast of Dublin, I 

 have seen them consisting of as few as seventy pairs. 



Geographical distribution. This species has a remark- 

 ably wide geographical distribution. Abroad it breeds in 

 countless throngs in Spitzbergen, Norway, Iceland, the 

 Faroes, and southward along the European sea-board to the 

 north-west coast of France. 



On the American Continent it is found nesting as far 



1 The detestable practice of shooting Kittiwakes at their breeding- 

 homes should receive the most open public condemnation. I quote 

 the words of Mr. Saunders, which clearly point out how these unfortunate 

 creatures were nefariously victimised. He says the eggs " are seldom 

 laid until the latter part of May, so that many of the young could 

 scarcely fly while others were still in the nest when the original Sea- 

 Birds Protection Act expired on August 1st ; consequently thousands 

 were formerly slaughtered to provide plumes for ladies' hats " (' Manual 

 of British Birds,' 2nd Edition, p. 684). 



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