THE KITTIWAKE 



{Rissa tridactyla.) 



Like white feathers blown about the rocks, 

 Like soft snowflakes wavering in the air, 



Wheel the Kitti wakes in scattered flocks, 

 Crying, floating, fluttering everywhere. 



— Celia Thaxter, 



"The Kittiwakes. 



The beautiful Kittiwakes are birds of 

 the Arctic regions, and it is only during 

 the winter that an observer within the 

 United States may have the pleasure of 

 watching them. Even in the winter 

 season they are seldom seen south of the 

 Atlantic coast of New England and in 

 limited numbers on the Great Lakes. A 

 variety of this species (Rissa tridactyla 

 polliciwis) frequents the coasts of the 

 North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea and 

 migrates in winter as far southward as 

 Southern California. 



The habits of the Kittiwakes are like 

 those of the other gulls with which we 

 are more familiar. Excepting during 

 the breeding season they can hardly be 

 considered as at home on the land. Mr. 

 Montague Chamberlain has said of them : 

 ''Feeding chiefly on fish, but accepting 

 any diet that drifts within range of its 

 keen sight; drinking salt water in pref- 

 erence to fresh ; breasting a gale with 

 ease and grace — soaring in mid-air, 

 skimming close above the crested waves, 

 or swooping into the trough for a coveted 

 morsel ; resting upon the rolling billows 

 and sleeping serenely as they roll, with 

 head tucked snugly under a wing; wan- 

 dering in loose flocks and making com- 

 rades of other wanderers; devoted to 

 mate and young and attached to all its 

 kin, — wherever seen or however em- 

 ployed, the Kittiwake is revealed as a 

 typical gleaner of the sea." 



In former years the Kittiwakes were 

 very abundant during the winter along 

 the New England coast. At the present 

 time, however, they are much less com- 

 mon. This is due to their extensive 

 slaughter by fishermen for food, and by 

 gunners for the mere sport of shooting 

 rapidly moving birds. The natives who 

 live within their breeding range are not 

 the least of the Kittiwakes' enemies, for 

 they gather large numbers of the birds' 



eggs and young, which they use for food. 

 The sea eagles and the parasitic jaegers 

 also devour the young. Many are the 

 times that the delicate and soft-plumaged 

 Kittiwakes are forced to give up the food 

 which they have gleaned from the 

 ocean's surface, to the bold and persist- 

 ent jaegers, or gull chasers as they are 

 often called. It is said that they are so 

 sorely harassed by the jaegers that they 

 have been known to disgorge food 

 already swallowed in order to rid them- 

 selves of their tormentors. The large 

 burgomaster, or glaucus gull, also robs 

 the Kittiwakes of their food, and has 

 been known to devour their young. It 

 is fortunate that the Kittiwakes breed in 

 large colonies in remote regions and 

 often in inaccessible places, for otherwise 

 their very existence would be threatened. 



They usually build their nests on the 

 ledges of rocky cliffs which overhang the 

 water. Sometimes they nest upon the 

 sand in the piles of drift that has been 

 cast upon the beach. Sometimes the 

 nests are flat, but usually they are quite 

 thick and with a deep cavity. Mr. 

 Edward A. Samuels gives the following 

 account of the nest of the Kittiwake. 

 He says it *'is composed of seaweeds, 

 which are arranged in a large pile and 

 placed on a ledge of rock in a crevice or 

 on a jutting shelf. This nest is occupied 

 for several years; and it receives addi- 

 tions in every season." 



The bird of our illustration is a young 

 Kittiwake. Its plumage is quite similar 

 to that of the winter adult, but has more 

 black. The bill also is black, while that 

 of the adult is pale yellow. The Kitti- 

 wakes have a high aesthetic value in the 

 economy of man, but they are also of 

 great practical value, for they devour on 

 the surface of the sea a large amount of 

 refuse that would otherwise be washed 

 ashore. 



G2 



