684 KITTIWAKE GULI. 
and to the Bermudas on the other ; while, beyond the British Islands, 
this Gull breeds in myriads onthe cliffs of the Feeroes, Iceland, 
Norway-—where a vast colony exists near the North Cape, Spitsber- 
gen, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, and wherever suitable localities 
present themselves in the Siberian Arctic Ocean. Westward, it is 
abundant in Jan Mayen, Greenland, and America above the Gulf of 
the St. Lawrence to 81° 40’ in Smith Sound, and as far west as 
Bering Sea, while it migrates to Lower California in winter. In 
Bering Sea are found individuals in which the hind-toe is not quite 
obsolete and is occasionally terminated by a minute nail; but this 
peculiarity is not always of equal extent on both feet of the same 
bird, nor is it confined to examples from the North Pacific. The area 
between Alaska and Kamchatka is also inhabited by a perfectly 
distinct species, &. évevivostris of Brandt, which has orange-red legs 
and feet, and a darker grey mantle than our bird. 
The nests—usually of small pieces of turf or sea-weed, with a lining 
of bents, and exceptionally of such ‘flotsam’ as tobacco—are placed 
on narrow ledges of rocks ; and I have seen some which were not 
more than 5 feet above high-water mark, though the topmost might 
be hundreds of feet higher. The eggs, 2-3 in number, vary from 
greyish-white to olive-buff, blotched and zoned with ash-grey and 
Hch brown: measurements 2°15 by 1°6 in. They are seldom laid 
until the latter part of May, so that many of the young could 
scarcely fly—while others were still in the nest—when the original 
Sea-Birds Protection Act expired on August rst; consequently 
thousands were formerly slaughtered to provide plumes for ladies’ 
hats. The food consists of fish and marine animals; sea-water is 
drunk in preference to fresh ; and marked birds have been known 
to follow vessels across the North Atlantic. The name is derived 
from the note, as are those of ‘Hacket’ and ‘ Hacklet’; the young 
bird is often called ‘Tarrock.’ The Kittiwake dives freely and also 
swims under water. 
The adult in summer has the bill greenish-yellow; mantle deep 
grey; primaries chiefly black terminally from the 1st to the 3rd, 
and barred with black to the 6th; head, neck, tail and under- 
parts white ; legs and feet blackish. Length 15°5 in., wing 12 in. 
In winter the nape and hind-neck are grey, like the mantle. The 
young bird has the bill black; nape greyish; shoulders, wing- 
coverts and inner secondaries thickly spotted with brownish-black ; 
1st to 4th quills blackish on the outer and on part of the inner web; 
tail barred with dull brown near the tip ; legs and feet brown until 
complete maturity is attained. 
