822 PA GO PHIL A RISSA 



Mouette Uanclie, French ; Schnee-Meive, Elferibein-Meive, 

 German ; lismaage, Dan. and Norvveg. ; Hvitmase, Swed. ; 

 ValkealoJcki, Finn. 



< ad. (Spitsbergen). Entire plumage white ; bill French-grey at the 

 base and on the culmen, pea-yellow at the tip ; legs and feet black ; iris 

 dark hair-brown, eyelids brick-red. Culmen 1*5, wing 12'2, tail 5'9, 

 tarsus 1*5 inch. Sexes alike. The young bird is marked with blackish 

 grey. 



Hob. The most northern parts of the Polar world, straying 

 south in winter to Britain, Scandinavia, the coasts of Germany 

 and Holland ; has once been obtained at the mouth of the Somme 

 in France, and once near Lausanne in Switzerland. In North 

 Asia it occurs in Kamchatka, and throughout Arctic America 

 as far south as New Brunswick and Newfoundland as a rare 

 visitant. 



Is generally to be met with in the vicinity of ice-masses, and 

 feeds chiefly on the leavings of walrus and seal hunters, and 

 is very tame and confiding. McClintock found it breeding on 

 Prince Patrick's Island in 1852-53, Malmgren in N.E. Spits- 

 bergen in 1865, and Capt. Johannesen found a breeding colony 

 on a small island off Spitsbergen in August, 1887, and obtained 

 19 eggs. The nests were composed of green moss, a few stalks 

 and leaves of algae, a few small wood splinters, feathers, and one 

 or two particles of lichen. The eggs, 1 or 2 in number, are 

 light greyish brown with a faint admixture of yellowish green 

 in ground-colour, and are spotted and blotched with dark brown, 

 and most nearly resemble those of Larus canus. In size they 

 measure about 2*36 by 1*32. 



KISSA, Stephens, 1826. 



1131. KlTTIWAKE. 

 RISSA TRIDACTYLA. 



Rissa tridactyla (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 224 (1766) ; (Naum.), x. p. 322, 

 Taf. 262 ; (Hewitson), ii, p. 493, pi. cxxxvii. ; (Gould), B. of Gt. 

 Brit. v. pi. 61 ; Dresser, viii. p. 447, pis. 607, 608 ; Seebohm, B. 

 Jap. Emp. p. 294 ; Saunders, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxv. p. 305 ; id. 

 Manual, p. 683 ; Kidgway, p. 25 ; Lilford, vi. p. 63, pi. 29 ; 7?. t. 

 pollicaris, Stejn., in Baird, B., and Ridgway, Water B. N. Am. ii. 

 p. 402 (1884) ; Tacz. F. O. Sib. 0. p. 1052 ; Ridgway, p. 25 ; L. rissa r 

 Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 224 (1766) ; Gould, B. of E. v. pi. 435. 



Mouette tridadyle, French ; Gamcta, Gabina, Span. ; Gaivota, 

 Portug. ; GabUano-terragnola, Ital. ; Dreizelun-Mewz, German; 



