346 LARID.E. 



Mr. G. C. Hyndinan has mentioned to me, that when he was 

 sailing, on the 24th of June, 1844, some miles from Ailsa, kitti- 

 wakes — which breed in quantities on that majestic pyramidal 

 rock — were attracted by the bait that was out for gurnard, and 

 which, in consequence of tl\e speed of the yacht in sailing, was 

 dragged along the surface. Perceiving tliis, he threw out pieces 

 of fat meat to them, when about twenty gathered round the 

 vessel, and followed it for two or three miles. 



At Ballantrae, on the coast of Ayrshire, these birds are com- 

 monly taken, in the following manner, by idle boys. They bait 

 hooks with the liver of the cod-fish, and fling them as far out from 

 the shore as possible, having a stone as a counterpoise to the 

 gully's weight attached to the opposite end of the string, ^and left 

 at the edge of the water. They then retire to such a distance as to 

 allow the victims to come freely to the bait, and so soon as this is 

 swallowed, they hasten to the stone and draw in the line with the 

 hooked gull at its other extremity. Various species of gulls have 

 been thus taken. The kittiwakes are purchased on the spot at a 

 penny each for the sake of their feathers, 'and a person of my 

 acquaintance there has obtained as many of them from birds cap- 

 tured in this manner, as have sufficed to stufP some pillows. 



When proceeding, on the 1st of February, 1849, in a steam- 

 boat from East Tarbert to Greenock, and about the entrance to 

 Loch Fine, I was attracted by the great beauty of an immature 

 gull of this species during flight. Its beauty consisted in the 

 black margined wing, the black band round the hinder part of 

 the base of the neck, and the black terminal band of the tail. 

 The black along the entire anterior portion of the wings, and 

 continued as it were* across the base of the neck from one wing to 

 the other, had a very handsome appearance. 



Mr. Hewitson, in his elegant work on the eggs of British birds, 

 gives an interesting account of the kittiwake^ at the^ Shetland 

 Islands. The late Mr. G. Matthews remarked it as very common 

 in summer along the coast of Norway. 



