KITTIWAK E.
In the ' Natural History ol Ireland' by William Thotnpeon, published in lSal, it is stated :—
" At Ballnntrae, on the matt of Ayrshire, these lards are commonly taken, in the fallowing manner, hy idle
boys. They bait hooks with the liver of the cod-fish, and fling them as far out from the shore as possible,
having a stone as a counterpoise to the gull's weight attached to the opposite end of the string, and left at the
edge of the water. They then retire to such a distance as to allow the victims to coate freely to the hail, and
so soon as this is swallowed, they hasten to the stone and draw in the line with the hooked gull at its other
extremity. Various species of gulls have been thus taken. The Kittiwakes are purchased on the spot at a
penny each for the sako of their feather*, and a person of my acquaintance there has obtained as many of them
from hirds captured in this manner, as have sufficed to stutrsomc pillows."
I shall conclude my account of the persecution to which this species is subjected by a short extract from
Sir, Dresser's ' Birds of F.nrnpe':—
"Next to the Ilerring-Gull the Kittiwakc is the commonest QnU in the south-western counties, and is
equally numerous at all limes of the year. There is a large breeding-station at Lundy Island, also on some of
the granitic cliffs near the Land's End, and nt various other places on the southern coasfs, the Cob Rock, off
Horry Head, affording a home to a small colony, as I-ord Lilford has informed me. Great numbers of Gulls
follow the shoals of sprats into the muddy bays of the Bristol Channel in the winter season; and at Westonsuper
Mare it is a common amusement with boys to place small jins along the shore baited with broken fish ;
and in this manner numbers of Gulls are easily captured, Kittiwakes and Hrown-hended Gulls being most
largely represented among the victims."
Dresser informs us that this species satl-fles its hunger by partaking of a variety of tiny morsels i—" It
feeds on small fishes, Crustacea, and other marine animals, which it usually obtains from the surface of tbo
water, over which it hovers with elevated wings when picking up its food." Other authors confirm thoso
statements, but I am of opinion that the birds require more substantial nourishment than what is referred to.
In June lSb'3 I was staying at North Berwick, on the shore of the firth of Torth, and took the opportunity of
securing specimens of all the sea-birds breeding at the Bass Rock. After shooting a couple of Kittiwakes which
flew pnsf the boat near the island of Craig Lciih, we picked them up and while holding one of them by the leg
and shaking the wafer from its feathers, three large herrings dropped from its mouth. The other, I ascertained
later on, had one fish of the same kind with a quantity of some small fry : herrings were at that time very
plentiful in the firth.
I never observed a Kittiwakc far away from the sea, though during the terrible gale in Novcmher 1872,
which continued for six days, a few that had been knocking about in the roads offYariuouth were carried on to
Breydon mudflats hy the frightful gusts of wind, and some made their way further inland to the marshes.
These, so far as I could ascertain, all returned at the first lull in the storm, and following the course of the
river flew slowly out towards the sea lo brave once more the gales that sweep over tin- briny ocean.
William Thompson, in his ' Natural History of Ireland,' gives the following description or the hardships
to which tbi'-.e birds are occasionally exposed in severe weather when carried inland by protracted gales, and
finally succumbing from exposure to gold an 1 starvation:—
" Isolated instances only of its occurrence in winter, ns just indicated, wero known to me until 1810, when
within the la-l ten days or January, one old and two young birds were shot in Belfast Bay, and another old bird
was found dead ; they were mere skeleton', ns Kittiwakes procured here at this season have generally been.
Only one contained in its stomach any food, which consisted of the remains of several of the crustaccous genus
Motea. Between the Wth of February and the 5th of March that year, ten birds, all adult, came under my
notice : three shot in Belfast Bay; three found dead on the beach near Holywood, and with them a herringgull
; all seeming to have died a natural death ; two were procured at different inland places (one shot and the
other found dead), five miles in a direct line from the sea, or if they followed the windings of the river Lagan,
KITTTWAKi:.
nearly double that distance; the two others were obtained near Kirkcubbin, on the Ixmlers of Strauglord
Lough. All these birds were miserably poor in llcsh ; four of them weighed respectively 10, 1), Hj, and 7}
ounces avoirdupois; Bewick notes the weight of the bird as 11 oz. Wo light were several of theM birds that
they were imagined by persons lifting them to be mere skins, put up in a natural form by the taxidermist. In
Hie stomach of one was found a specimen of the frosh-aaUll shell Palmdima fcnfwra ; of another, the rcmaius of
a crab ; one was well filled with earthworms nnd earth (this bird was killed when 1 following the plough •) ;
and the bill of another contained some dry loamy earth ; the stomachs of all tin' others were empty.1'
1 quite agree with MacGillivray when he states: "With us it is scarcely ever seen inland; nor does it
ever search the maritime pastures or the ploughed fields along the shores for worms and lame, like the other
smaller specie* of its family. It is an ocean bird, that loves no! the haunts of man."
While fishing and shooting in the Channel off Suorehum, Lancing, and Worthing during autumn I
remarked that the young Kittiwakes generally pot in an appearance soon after the beginning of Sepiember.
Ample opportunities for observing the habits of this species w ere met with u bile steaming in company with the
fleets of herring-boats in the North Sea otf the sandbanks about Hasborougli, Yarmouth, and Lowestoft during
the autumns of several years. I noticed they were capable of devouring immense quantities of herrings and
any amount of sprats and fish-liver when cut up into small pieces: we used to fml the swarms of these birds
that followed the steamboat in order to draw- the Skuas in bop's of procuring specimens in some curious stage
ot plumage. The Kittiwakes would hover in hundreds just over the stem, darting don n when small pieces of
fish were flung overboard, and soiling the morsel before it reached the wafer. Occasionally while llsbing for
cod, of which we frequently captured some neighing between and 3J lbs., outside the Cross Sands, we came
across immense shoals of very large silver whiting, and then those terrible pests the doglish wore often a! I raelnl
around, and all sport was at an end, as they snatched the baits immediately and were hauled up every time the
linos were lowered : the only chance then was to steam a few miles off and commence again. The manner in
which the crew of the steamboat amused themselves with these ravenous creatures was somewhat amusing.
They made • large ball of corks and fastening it on to the tails of about ten or a dozeu that were tied together,
they flung the lot overboard : prevented by the corks from going down, the dogfish dashed about just below
the surface of the water and attracted a large assemblage of Gulls that remained circling over and darting down
to sis- what was to lie obtained.
While conversing with the crewa of some of the fishing-luggers 1 learned that the allowance for each of the
crew nt a meal was thirty-two herrings. Few, of course, were in the habit or consuming what they wore
entitled to, and I only heard of one man, a native of Potter Ileigham in the east of Norfolk, who made the
attempt. This strange individual used to hold the fish by the head and tail and tearing off the flesh on the
lack with bis mouth fling the remainder overboard. My informant who has now the charge of my punts on
Iliekling Broad had. when a " youngker'' • in the crew of a fishing-lugger, bold the office of cook and was well
acquainted with all the hardships to be encountered when afloat in tbo stormy North Sea. His first attempt to
attend to the preparation of the dinner for the crew, be stated, had proved a failure. Having boiled a large cod
of about llll lbs., he took the kettle up to pour the water out, when a heavy sou striking the boat the lisb and
all the contents went overboard. The accident having been observed by the rest, of the crew, no remarks wen1
made, as there was a large slock of cod and herrings in the vessel, and a fresh supply was soon procured and
prepared.
It iB only two or three years since, when crossing Iliekling Broad in a punt, with the man just referred to
"quanting," that we detected a tine pike lying quietly in a round hollow in a mass of weeds that covered the bottom.
" That's a eta fish," I remarked. " Yes," replied Boh, " we bad better have him into the boat.'' Permission
having been given to strike the tisb, as I wished to seo the operation pi if"fined, the punt was slowly worked