NATATORES. 423 



[188.] 8. Larus tridactylus. (Lath.) The Kittiwake. 



Genus, Larus, Linn. 



Kittiwake. Penn., Arct. Zool., ii., p. 529, No. 456 ; Supply p. 70, winter. 



Larus rissa. Idem, Suppl., p. 70. 



Tarrock {Larus tridactylus). Idem, p. 533, D. 



Mouette tridactyle (Larus tridactylus). Temm., p. 774. 



Larus tridactylus (Kittkvake-Gtdl). Sab. Greenl. Birds, p. 549, No. 22 ; Suppl. Parry's 



First Voy., p. ccv., No. 19. Sab. (J.) Frankl.Journ., p. 695. Richards. App. 



Parry's Second Voy., p. 359. 



The Kittiwake abounds in the interior of the fur-countries, on the coasts of the 

 Pacific, and also on the shores of the Arctic Seas, where it breeds. The young 

 appear in considerable numbers in the autumn, on the muddy coasts of Hudson's 

 Bay, after which they retire to the southward. Its food consists of small fish and 

 marine and fresh-water insects. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a mature specimen, killed on Melville Peninsula, in July. 



Colour. — Mantle bluish-grey ; ends of the five exterior quills and outer web of the 

 first black ; the fourth and fifth have small white tips. Head, neck, rump, tail, and whole 

 under plumage, white. Bill yellowish. Orbits and inside of the mouth orange-coloured. 

 Legs blackish. 



Form. — Tail two inches longer than the wings. The hind toe replaced by a minute pro- 

 jection, covered with warty scales like those on the posterior part of the tarsus, and destitute 

 of a nail. All the toes slender. — R. 



" In winter the hind head and neck are french-grey, and the plumage between the eye 

 and bill is finely streaked with black." — " The young have the above winter dress, with 

 additional differences : the bill is black instead of yellow; at the back of the neck the feathers 

 are tipped with black, forming a narrow crescentic patch ; a black band crosses the tips of 

 the wing coverts ; primary quills black, with more or less of the inner webs in different speci- 

 mens white ; tail tipped for half an inch with black, except the outer feather on each side, 

 having only a spot on the inner web." — Capt. Sabine. 



Dimensions 

 Of the mature specimen. 



Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. 



Length, total . . 15 6 Length of bill to rictus . 2 3 Length of middle toe . . 1 5 



,, of tail ..54 „ from nostrils to tip .08 ,, of its nail . .0 4 J 



,, of wing . 12 „ of naked thigh .05 ,, of inner toe . .1 0^ 



,, of bill above . .1 A\ „ of tarsus . .14 ,, of its nail . .03 



— R. 



