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young birds, with which the rocks are thickly covered at this season of the year. The cliffs 

 adjacent, on which the birds are as thick as snowflakes in winter, while the air is darkened with 

 their masses, and rings with screams from innumerable throats, presented an imposing sight." 

 In Sweden, Nilson says, it appears on the Bohuslan coasts in October, and remains there all 

 winter until March or April. In Skane it is met with now and again, and in mild seasons comes 

 inland to the ploughed fields. Several individuals were shot at Lund in the winter of 1848-49 ; 

 and in the winter and spring of 1854 it was not uncommon in Southern Skane. According to 

 Dr. Palmen it is of rare occurrence on the west coast of Finland. Fellman records it from 

 Kemi, Kuusamo, and Kalix ; but this statement has not been confirmed. A. von Nordmann shot 

 an immature bird on Enskar, near Helsingfors, on the 30th May 1857. 



In the Arctic ocean the present species is very common in many localities, especially in 

 Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. Professor Newton says (Ibis, 1865, p. 508) that " it appears to 

 frequent the whole of the Spitzbergen coast. In Parry's expedition it was observed feeding on 

 Merlangus polaris and Alpheus polaris as far to the northward as they reached — lat. 82° 45' N." 

 Dr. Malmgren also writes (J. f. O. 1863, p. 375) as follows: — " Of all the Gulls inhabiting Spitz- 

 bergen this species is mostly found on the water, feeding on small fish, Crustacea, Pteropoda, &c. 

 I saw innumerable flocks of old and young birds collected in the straits between Amsterdam 

 Island and Danes Island during the first days of September. They were all swimming against 

 the wind and busily engaged in picking up something from the water, which, after having killed 

 several of them, I found to be Limacina arctica. Their stomachs were filled with these animals. 

 This species does not feed on carrion or blubber like Larus glaucus and Larus eburneus, and 

 therefore is never found at fish-curing places. This fact may account for this Gull and not the 

 two other species being exposed to the persecutions of Lestris parasitica." According to Von 

 Heuglin the Kittiwake is very plentiful on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, but does not occur 

 in Matthews Straits or on Waigats Island. 



In the North Baltic, as above stated, this Gull is of uncommon occurrence ; but on the 

 German coasts it is frequently met with in the winter season ; and at the same season it occurs in 

 Denmark, but appears to be rare rather than otherwise. Mr. Collin states that it is said to breed 

 on Christianso, near Bornholm. On the coasts of the German Ocean it is a tolerably regular 

 winter visitant; and Professor Schlegel says that it occurs in small flocks on the Dutch coast 

 during stormy weather, occasionally as early as September, but usually in the winter. Occa- 

 sionally it is met with inland, being doubtless driven in by stress of weather. It is met with on 

 passage on the Scheldt ; and after stormy weather it appears on the lakes and rivers of the 

 interior of Belgium, straggling even to the Moselle. On the northern coasts of France it is 

 common in autumn, occasionally visiting the marshes in the interior, and in the south of France 

 it is not uncommon from December to February. Professor Barboza du Bocage speaks of it as 

 being common on the Tejo, in Portugal ; and it is said to be abundant in winter outside the 

 Straits of Gibraltar, being in some seasons, Colonel Irby writes, very numerous in the Bay of 

 Gibraltar, and but rare in others, according to the state of the weather. To the eastward of 

 this it becomes scarcer in the Mediterranean. In Italy its appearances are rare, and it is, so far 

 as can be ascertained, scarcely ever seen except in the northern provinces ; for Salvadori doubts 

 the records of its occurrence in Sicily and Sardinia. It has certainly, however, been found in 



