GULLS AND TERNS. 37 



and huffish - brown to brownish - olive, blotched 

 and spotted with reddish-brown, paler brown, and 

 gray. No words of mine can adequately describe 

 the beauty and animation of a colony of Kitti wakes. 

 Their cries are deafening, and when the frightened 

 birds flutter from the cliffs, and pass to and fro in 

 thousands like a living snowstorm, the effect, 

 whether seen from the water or from the cliffs 

 above is charming in the extreme. It is sad to 

 think that such a spot should too often become a 

 scene of slaughter. But such is the case ; the poor 

 birds breeding too late fully to profit by the pro- 

 tection afforded by law. Vast numbers of this 

 pretty gentle Gull are killed yearly, for the sake of 

 their plumage. Even when the breeding places 

 are left, the poor birds are shot in thousands out at 

 sea. The Kitti wake is the most trustful perhaps of 

 the Gulls, and a flock will remain hovering round a 

 boat until almost decimated by the gunners. The 

 young Kitti wake is widely known along the coast 

 under the name of " Tarrock." 



BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



In most inland districts frequented by this Gull 

 (the Larus ridibundus of Linnaeus) it is known as 

 the " Peewit," the ''Peewit Gull," or the " Laughing 

 Gull." It is not only one of the most widely 

 distributed but one of the best known of our 

 sea birds. And yet to describe the Black-headed 

 Gull as a "sea" bird in the sense we have hitherto 



