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THE KITTIWAKE. 
of Wight. Generally speaking, it may be termed 
a summer visitant, the great mass of birds leaving 
their stations after incubation, a few only remaining 
over winter or migrating from some other latitude. 
Fleming mentions it in winter ; Mr. Yarrell is con- 
fident he has seen it in winter on the coasts of 
Dorsetshire or Hampshire; on the Scotch coasts, 
however, it is certainly rare at that season ; in the 
Firth of Forth it is sometimes seen, and in January 
last (1843) Mr. Fenton in Edinburgh had a newly 
killed specimen, which we examined. It breeds on 
precipitous rocks, never we believe in low situa- 
tions, and on approaching one of their stations 
the air resounds with the call of “ Kittiwake," 
uttered distinctly ; whence, without doubt, their 
common name. It is a gull which does not venture 
inland, and feeds exclusively on the productions of 
the sea. These birds often follow the shoals of young 
fish and are shot for the sake of the feathers in great 
numbers, apparently not willing to leave their prey. 
On the European shores it ranges as far south as 
Italy ; and, Mr. Yarrell states, is found in winter 
at Genoa ; but it seems to be more a northern bird ; 
occurring abundantly in Iceland, Spitzbergen, &c., 
and was met with by the Arctic voyagers in the 
highest latitudes which were reached. Mr. Audu- 
bon records it in the autumnal and winter months, 
from the mouth of the Mississippi to the coast of 
Maine, and found it breeding on the famous Gannet 
rock in the gulf of St. Laurence, and on the shores 
of Labrador. 
