THE KITTIWAKE. 343 



youug just hatched as well as others ready to fly/^"^ About the 

 rocks of Howth, Ireland^s Eye^ and Lambay, they have beeu met 

 with in the breeding season by Mr. R. Ball and myself. 



When at the Mew Island — one of the Copeland Islands — in 

 June 1827 and 1833, I was surprised to see very large flocks of 

 kittiwakes, both there and on the neighbouring rocks, aU in full 

 plumage, though • no breeding-place was near. At the Skerries, 

 too, off Portrush, as already mentioned, numbers were met with 

 early in July : on'] the island of Rathlin, not far distant, the 

 species has a breeding-haunt ; but these individuals, like those at 

 the Mew Island, probably did not seek to multiply their kind. 

 The presence of numbers of full-plumaged kittiwakes in the 

 height of the breeding season about localities where they do not 

 build has been commented on by Mr, Lawrence Edmonston, in 

 the 'Edinburgh Philosophical Journal' for 1822 (No. XIIl. or 

 vol. vii.), who informs us : — " Of the multitudes of the Lams 

 rissa, or kittiwake, that annually arrive in Zetland to breed, large 

 flocks are observed to keep apart from those which repair to the 

 usual haunts for incubation, resting on the water, or on low 

 rocks, and, from their not breeding, are termed in the dialect of 

 the country i/eeld kittiwakes. t This singular fact in their history 

 has been stated by Dr. Edmonston in his ' Yiew of the Zetland 

 Islands / but I am not conscious that any explanation has yet 

 been offered of it." The writer " suspects these yeeld kittiwakes 

 to be merely the young of the flrst year, which, although attained 

 to perfect plumage, have not yet acquired the faculty of propaga- 

 tion." J To the interesting paper itself I must refer for further 

 information and speculations on the subject. 



On visiting" the Mew Island, in June 1833, under similar cir- 



* Mr. J. Poole. 



t This would also seem to be the case with tlie ganiiet at St. Kilda. ^Mr. John 

 Macgillivray, who visited that island in 1841, and gave a very interesting description 

 of the birds there, states that — " The account given by ISIartiu of the barreu gan- 

 nets, which roost separately from the others, was eoufirnied by the natives." — Edin. 

 Phil. Jour. January 1842, p. 66. 



% Mr. Selby (p. 495) and Audubon (vol. iii. p. 187) say, thai the kittiwake i.s two 

 years in attaining adult plumage. 



