The Zoologist— May, 1870. 2119 



crowd, some laying flat on their eggs, others are standing bolt upright 

 beside them, doubtless male birds, which as we approach fly off", 

 while the females stop till the last minute : many fly up from the sea 

 towards us, but sheer off on a nearer approach. These ledges are foul 

 with greenish white excrement, but are not nearly so filthy as the 

 broader ledges of the guillemots further down, which are crowded wilh 

 sitting and standing guillemots, the ledges coated and running down 

 with greenish filth, and the feet, and breasts and eggs of the guillemots 

 foul with uncleanness. 



The lovely kittiwakes are flickering round us as we descend lower, 

 and, in their dire extremity of terror, fly lightly as spirits close to our 

 faces, crying "kittiw-e-a, kilti-e-a," circling round and round, while 

 the heavy rock birds seem to fall off the ledges in fright. Many 

 nests of the kittiwake are large enough to fill the crown of a hat, but 

 these are old nests which the bird repairs and builds on year after 

 year, many nests being much smaller: they are built of mud, sea-weed 

 and campion-stalks, and are in many cases stuck to the wall on such 

 a narrow crevice that they look like swallows' nests under the eaves of 

 a house : many nests have only one egg, others have three, others 

 none. I watch several birds building : one bird brings the mud and 

 weed, while the other sits inside, turning round and moulding it with 

 her breast and bill, scraping up the sides with her black feet. The 

 eggs of the kittiwake are not nearly so finely marked as some gathered 



at Ailsa Craig several years back. 



Theodore C. Walker. 



(To be continued.) 



About the Kittiwake' s First Winter Plumage, ^c. 

 By H. Blake-Knox, Esq., J. P. 



It was my intention to answer Mr. Cordeaux's inquiry about the 

 colour of the feet of the kittiwake (S. S. 2053), but I have had so much 

 to do latterly that I could not even find lime to put my foot on the 

 sea since last autumn. The colour described by Mr. Cordeaux is 

 quite natural and not at all abnormal, as my paper on this bird might 

 make it appear. In answer to Mr. Alston (S. S. 2108) as to the irre- 

 gularity of change of colour in the feet of the first winter kittiwake, 

 there is decidedly a frequent development of colour earlier in some 



