' The Kittiwake breeds in all suitable cliffs round our coast." 



THE KITTIWAKE GULL 



MUST confess to a great 

 partiality for this gentle- 

 mannered, beautiful little 

 Gull. Its affection for its 

 mate, maternal solicitude 

 when the young are in 

 the nest, and quaint call 

 notes all appeal to the 

 naturalist with irresistible charm. It 

 is purely maritime in its habits, and 

 does not resort to fresh water or land 

 in search of food, like its congeners the 

 Black-headed and Common Gulls. 



Many people are apt to confuse this 

 species with the Common Gull, but if 

 they would remember that its feet and 

 legs are of a dusky colour, and those of 

 its relative greenish-yellow, they would 

 have no difficulty in distinguishing the 

 one bird from the other. 



The Kittiwake breeds in all suitable 

 cliffs round our coast, and, although 

 it returns to its old haunts as early 

 as March, does not commence to lay 



before May. The nest is composed of 

 dry seaweed and dead grass, and is gener- 

 ally a small, compact structure ; this 

 being infrequently an imperative neces- 

 sity occasioned by the narrowness of the 

 ledge upon which it is built. At the 

 Noup of Noss in the Shetlands, where 

 the weather has worn long horizontal 

 fissures in the rock, great numbers of 

 Kittiwakes may be seen sitting almost 

 side by side, and from a distance look 

 like long rows of white dots. 



On Ailsa Craig and at other places I 

 have seen Kittiwakes, common guille- 

 mots, and razor bills all breeding close 

 together and living in perfect friend- 

 ship and harmony. 



The eggs of this species number two 

 or three and, occasionally, as many as 

 four. In ground colour they vary from 

 buffish brown to stone yellow, some- 

 times shaded with blue, spotted and 

 blotched with ash grey, light brown 

 and reddish brown. 



