274 WHITE SEA-BIRDS. 



with any other of our Terns, or with any other 

 white sea-bird of our coasts. 



KITTIWAKE.— Form, like Herfing Gull (plate 

 115). 15^ inches. Back and wings clear gray, the 

 longest flight- feathers tipped with black ; head, neck, 

 and under parts, as well as rump and tail, white ; 

 bill greenish-yellow ; legs and feet black. Winter : 

 head and neck slaty-gray. Resident. 



Eggs. — 2-3, pale grayish or greenish-buif, spotted 

 and blotched with brown and gray ; 2'15 x 1"6 inches 

 (plate 135). 



Nest. — Of seaweed, lined with dry grass. 



The Kittiwake is a resident cliff-breeder, sharing 

 the steep, rocky headlands of our coasts with Guille- 

 mots, Razorbills, and other Gulls. It is the smallest 

 of our indigenous Gulls, and of a more strictly mari- 

 time habit than most of them. The nest is a large, 

 compact structure of seaweed, becoming quite columnar 

 as it is added to from year to year. Where the 

 birds are many the nests are necessarily placed close 

 to one another ; but when there is more space at 

 command the Kittiwakes dot themselves about the 

 cliff in loose association. From time to time they 

 sail out in small flocks to circle round over the sea, 

 or to fly up and down before the cliff-face ere return- 

 ing to their nests. As they go they utter a cry 

 quite unlike that of any other of our Gulls. It is 

 peculiarly human in its expression, and may be 

 written ' It-a-aye,' closely resembling the words ' Get 

 away ' as they might be pronounced by a sick or 



