File:The aquatic birds of Great Britain and Ireland (1906) (14755562985).jpg

Identifier: aquaticbirdsofgr00patt (find matches)
Title: The aquatic birds of Great Britain and Ireland
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Patten, Charles Joseph, 1870-
Subjects: Water birds Water birds
Publisher: London, R. H. Porter
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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e, and the offal-eating species flitting along our city-quays, rarely, if ever,is a Kittiwake seen among their numbers. It is rather thedeep blue waters of the open sea that this Gull delights in.None the less, it is a friendly visitor to our fishing-portsand harbours, where now and again it may be seen flyingto and fro, or perched on a pier, a floating buoy, or on theside of an empty boat. At times it is a great wanderer, indeed, I have seen it,during its peregrinations, escorting steamers across theNorth Atlantic Ocean, for three consecutive days, coveringa distance of approximately 1,000 miles. Bits of breadthrown overboard will rapidly attract numbers together,and so greedy are the birds to secure the booty that thosenearest may be seen swooping to the water the instantones arm is raised even in pretence of throwing food. Ihave seen this confiding bird follow trawlers and smallpleasure-boats, sometimes within an oars length. Flight.—The gentle but well-sustained flight resembles
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KITTIWAKE GULL 447 that of other Gulls : when fishing, the bird may be seensometimes poising like a Tern and dropping suddenly tothe water, under which it can swim in pursuit of fish. Voice.—This is the only one of our Gulls which may besaid to possess melody in its voice. Even when loudest,the note is full of music and pathos. The oft-repeatedechoing chant resounds from the cliffs beneath, now waxingto its fullest until it bursts into a glad chorus, now waninginto a silence broken only by the roarmg of the waveswashing the beetling cliffs. The note, once heard, is hardlyforgotten ; it sounds remarkably like the syllables, kittl-ivake, kitti-wake, kUtl-wake ; hence the birds name. Away from its breeding-haunts this Gull is compara-tively silent, indeed, I have seldom heard it utter any notewhen flying over the sea. Food.—Being essentially marine in its habits, it livesalmost entirely on small fish captured on or near the surface.It does not appear to be an offal-eater, but will ac

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