IVORY GULL. KITTIWAKE. 261 



were so familiar, that the servants* believed them to be tamed 

 birds. One was reported to have been in the beautiful plu- 

 mage of the adult. Several birds, answering to the descrip- 

 tion of this species, have been likewise observed in various 

 parts of Ireland by persons whose ornithological knowledge 

 was sufficient to verify their appearance. 



In like manner with the glaucous and Iceland gulls, we 

 must look to the Arctic regions for the true habitat of this 

 bird, where it is described as being fearless in its habits, 

 almost associating with the sailors when engaged in the ope- 

 ration of flensing the whale, on the flesh of which these gulls 

 gorge themselves to excess. 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



SPECIES 251 THE KITTIWAKE. 



Larus rissa. Linn. 

 Mouette tridactyle. Temm. 



THE KITTIWAKE is, with the exception of the black-headed, 

 the smallest of our common gulls, and during summer the 

 most frequent visitor on our coast. 



Observed in very limited numbers during winter, it ap- 

 pears more common upon the Dublin coast than in any other 

 locality, as at that season it may be always observed in com- 

 pany with other gulls in the bay. Almost exclusively mari- 

 time in its habits, it never ventures inland like the other spe- 

 cies, but contents itself with the sustenance it obtains upon 

 the sea. During summer their breeding haunts present a 

 most novel and beautiful appearance to the ornithologist. 



Tenanting the precipices around the island in situations 

 similar to the auk and guillemot, their immense numbers con- 

 stitute the grand feature which attracts attention. Thousands 

 of their unsullied forms, lining and banding the sides of the 

 rock, resemble so many strata in appearance, whilst they 

 charm the ear by their wildly modulated cries, as the eye by 

 their numberless crowds, all forming a concert, which, although 

 differing from 



" The harvest of sweet lays" 



that greets the ear inland, is still fraught with the most de- 

 lightful associations. The hoarse guttural cackling of the 

 great black-backed gulls coming down to us from an immense 

 altitude ; the loud laughing cries of the herring gulls, partly 



* Thompson. 



