THE KITTIWAKE. 341 



room to sit and hatch theu* eggs, or tend their young, for five or 

 six nests were placed on a shelf of rock so close to each other, 

 that the birds sat in contact, and, if not peaceably inclined, would 

 have thrown the whole into confusion, and prevented each other 

 from fulfilling the process of incubation. Yet they all seemed to 

 live in harmony; and except when one unintentionally occupied 

 a nest not its own (which very rarely happened), they never at- 

 tempted to disturb one another. The young, when first excluded 

 from the shell, are covered with a greyish down, intermixed with 

 white. Their food consisted chiefly of fry. Eor two or three 

 miles along the base of these cliffs, the rocks were covered with 

 eggs, from which the young had been liberated — young birds 

 which had been precipitated from the rocks, and with the excre- 

 ment and feathers of the adult birds.''' 



On my visiting the Skerries off Portrush on the 12th of July, 

 1833, a large number of kittiwakes were assembled on a rock; 

 my companion fired at them and killed several, all of which were 

 in adult plumage : their legs varied much in colour, from a yel- 

 lowish-ohve to pale black ; irides very dark brown : — they were 

 not breeding on those islands. 



In June 1832, I saw kittiwakes in immense numbers about 

 their nesting-places in the range of magnificent cliffs westward of 

 Horn Head. Under date of the 29th it was there noted, that 

 from the Temple Brig, looking eastward, I saw at one view thou- 

 sands sitting on their nests, which are all placed on narrow hori- 

 zontal shelves, for about half-way up the rocks from the water, and 

 in depth only sufficient to contain a single row of them. They are 

 placed close together, and the birds on them as near to each 

 other as they can sit. The nests are very thick (fully three 

 inches), round in form, and composed apparently of the grass 

 Mynms arenariiis. They are perfectly circular inside, and ex- 

 hibit no feathers as lining to the sides : being every one occupied, 

 the bottom is not visible. When some of the old birds stand 

 up in the nests, their young, about the size of newly hatched 

 chickens, and of a brownish-grey colour, are seen. Some of the 

 old birds exhibited the pretty and graceful gestures of the dove when 



