KITTIWAKE 327 



KiTTiwAKE. Eissa tridactyla 



16.00 



Ad. in winter. — Head, tail, and under parts white; a dusky 

 spot back of the eye, which however may disappear as early as 

 February ; wings and back pearl-gray ; wings tipped for less than 

 three inches with unspotted black; bill yellow; feet black. Im. — 

 Similar, but all except the outer pair of tail-feathers tipped with 

 a broad black band; first three quill-feathers black; a blackish 

 patch on the hind neck and another near the bend of the wing; bill 

 black; feet yellowish. 



The Kittiwake is a common winter visitor to the sea- 

 coast of New England, and a common transient visitor off 

 the coast of Long Island, where a few hirds winter. It is 

 the most pelagic of our gulls (rarely approaching the beaches 

 or harbors), seeking its food well out at sea. Flocks of 

 these gulls circle about the fishermen, expecting the refuse 

 thrown overboard after the fish are cleaned, and during 

 the winter and early spring many follow the trans-Atlantic 

 liners for days, playing with exquisite grace about the stern 

 of the ship, and often plunging into the water from a consid- 

 erable height. Their cry resembles the syllables keet, keet, 

 wack, wack. 



They may be known from Herring Gulls, which they re- 

 semble closely in coloration, by their much smaller size, and 

 their more graceful flight. If the adult birds are seen at 

 close range, the color of the feet and the different pattern of 

 the tips of the quill-feathers will distinguish the Kittiwake 

 from either the much larger Herring Gull or the somewhat 

 larger Eing-billed Gull. The adult Kittiwake has black 

 feet ; the other two species have feet of pale flesh-color. 

 In the Kittiwake, only a couple of inches at the tips of the 

 wings are black, unspotted with white ; this black tip offers 

 a marked contrast to the gray wing. In the other two 

 species the dark tip is over six inches long, is spotted with 

 white near the tip, and inasmuch as it runs back some dis- 



