230 Order XIV 



always stone-coloured, .but are often very boldly 

 marked with dark brown and grey. The coloration, 

 apart from a few differences in the white markings on 

 the wings, is similar to that in the Lesser Black-backed 

 Gull; but the legs are flesh-coloured, and the size of 

 the bird is much greater. 



The Glaucous Gull {L. glaucus) and the Iceland Gull 

 [L. leucopterus) do not breed in Britain, but visit us 

 regularly in considerable numbers towards winter, 

 especially in seasons of extreme cold. They are both 

 very white-looking birds with pale grey mantle and 

 wings, but the former is much larger than the latter, 

 and in this respect they correspond with the two species 

 of Black-backed Gulls. The Glaucous Gull nests through 

 the Arctic seas of both worlds and in Iceland ; the 

 Iceland Gull does not breed in that island, but in 

 Jan Mayen, Greenland, east Arctic America and no 

 doubt other parts. Perhaps the best distinction, besides 

 the size, hes in the pink colour of the legs in the first- 

 named, as opposed to a flesh-coloured, or yellowish tint, 

 in its ally. The eggs are much as in the Greater Black- 

 backed Gull, while the nest is commonly, but not always, 

 on precipitous cHffs ; the food is of the most diverse 

 description, and includes berries of northern shrubs. 



The Kittiwake (Bissa tridactyla), our most dainty 

 and dehcate-looking species, can be distinguished at 

 once from its British congeners by its black legs and 

 by the (apparent) absence of a hind-toe. The mantle 

 is of the same deeper grey as that of the Common Gull, 

 which the bird most nearly resembles. It always breeds 

 in large colonies on sheer precipices, the nests of turf, 

 sea-weed, straw, and Uke substances being fitted into 

 small angles in the face of the rock, where at first sight 



