38 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



in the air; hundreds of swift- winged murres and razor-billed auks 

 darting out f rbm the cliffs ; and quaint little parties of curious puffins 

 perched on the rocks. There was a constant babel of voices, the 

 mingled cries of the varied throngs ; deep, guttural croaks and hoarse, 

 grunts from the gannets; a variety of soft purring notes from tht 

 murres; and sharp, piercing cries from the active kittiwakes dis- 

 tinctly pronouncing the three syllables for which they are named, as 

 if beseeching us to " keep away " from their precious nests. 



For a more intimate study of their nesting habits we were lowered 

 down the face of the cliff in a crate, dangling at the end of a long 

 rope and whirling helplessly about in space^ but within a few feet 

 of the confiding, gentle birds on their nests. They were so ac- 

 customed to the intimacy of man that it was an easy matter to 

 study and photograph the dainty creatures at short range. Their 

 nests were scattered all over the perpendicular face of the cliff, on 

 every available little shelf. I was surprised to see how small and 

 narrow a ledge could support a nest in safety. The nests were 

 firmly and well built of seaweeds, grasses, and mosses, and were 

 securely plastered on to the rock ; apparently they were made of 

 wet seaweed which adhered firmly to the rock as it dried; evi- 

 dently the nests had been used for successive seasons, fresh material 

 being added each year. They were deeply cupped and well built up 

 on the outer sides, so as to form safe cradles for the young. Incu- 

 bation was far advanced at this date (June 24), and many of the 

 eggs had hatched. The nests must, indeed, be well built to hold the 

 weight of two lusty young and the brooding parent in such pre : 

 carious situations. Mr. Ora W. Knight (1908) gives the dimen- 

 sions of a nest found on Baccalieu Island,. Newfoundland. " Its 

 diameter at base was 1 foot, and at top 8 inches; interior diameter, 

 6 inches ; and depth, 2 inches." 



Eggs. — The kittiwake is said to lay as many as four or five 

 eggs, but I beheve that two is the usual number ; that three eggs, are 

 rarely laid; and that larger numbers are very unusual. I am quite 

 sure that more than 90 per cent of the nests that I have seen have 

 held only two eggs. Often only a single egg is hatched. The. eggs 

 vary in shape from somewhat pointed ovate to short ovate, rarely 

 elongate ovate; the shell is thin and smooth, but without much 

 lustre. The ground color varies from "pinkish buff" or "olive 

 buff " to " cartridge buff," " pale olive buff," or bluish white. The 

 spots are irregular in arrangement, size, and shape ; most eggs have 

 underlying spots or blotches of "light Quaker drab" or "light 

 mouse gray " ; these are either overlaid or mixed with darker spots, 

 blotches, or scrawls of " clay color," " snuff brown," " tawny olive," 

 "Vandyke brown," or "sepia" of various shades. The measure-, 

 ments of 41 eggs in various collections average 56.1 by 40.8 milli- 



