86 



KEARTONS' NATURE PICTURES 



KITTIWAKK8 NEST. 



The young fly at about the end of 

 July or beginning of August, and some 

 years ago their barred wings were in 

 such demand as decoration for ladies' 

 hats that as many as seven hundred 



birds were slaughtered in a single day 

 at one breeding station alone. 



In olden times the Kittiwake was 

 consumed as human food and considered 

 as good eating as a partridge. Let us 

 hope that we have outgrown any 

 desire to do this lovable little Gull 

 any harm either for its flesh or feathers. 

 It is a favourite with many people who 

 do not profess to a great interest in 

 ornithology, for it always tells the 

 merest tyro its name by crying out 

 " Kittiwake," " Kittiwake," " Kitti- 

 wake " whenever anyone approaches 

 its breeding haunt. 



These notes sound more like the 

 words "Get-away," "Get-away," "Get- 

 away " to some people, and I must 

 confess that I have placed the same 

 interpretation upon them when I have 

 been peering over the edge of a danger- 

 ous cliff, or investigating the interior of 

 some dark sea-cave in which the tide 

 has been weirdly gurgling and moaning. 



