Red-legged Kittiwake

SCI Name:  Rissa brevirostris
Protonym:  Larus (Rissa) brevirostris J.Orn. 1 no.2 p.103
Taxonomy:  Charadriiformes / Laridae / Rissa
Taxonomy Code:  relkit
Type Locality:  Northwestern North America.
Author:  Bruch
Publish Year:  1853
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

RISSA
(Laridae; Ϯ Black-legged Kittiwake R. tridactyla) Specific name Larus rissa Brünnich, 1764 (= syn. Rissa tridactyla); "RISSA.  KITTIWAKE.   Generic Character.  Rostrum mediocre rectum, lateratim compressum, apice adunco; mandibula inferiore subtus angulata.  Nares lineares, rectæ, in medio rostri sitæ.  Cauda subfurcata.  Pedes teradactyli; pollex fere obliteratus exunguiculatus.   RISSA. Leach.  LARUS. Linn., Gmel., Lath.  GAVIA. Briss.   THE Kittiwake differs from the Xemes by reason of the absence of the hinder toe, and from the Gulls by the same character, added to the subfurcate tail.   There is but one species known, which prefers the inland lakes to the sea-coasts.    BRUNNICH'S KITTIWAKE. (Rissa Brunnichii.)   ...   Larus Rissa. Linn. Syst. Nat. 1. 224.  Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. 594.  Kittiwake. Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 393.  ...  Tarrock Gull. Penn. Arct. Zool. 2. 533.  ...  Kittiwake Gull. Penn. Arct. Zool. 2. 456." (Stephens 1826); "Rissa Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., 13, pt. 1, 1826, p. 180. Type, by monotypy, Rissa brunnichii Stephens = Larus tridactylus Linné." (Peters 1934, II, 325).
Synon. Cheimonea, Gavia, Polocandora.

rissa
Icelandic name Rita for the Black-legged Kittiwake < Old Norse Ryta; “By the Icelanders it is called Ritsa” (Latham 1785) (syn. Rissa tridactyla).

brevirostre / brevirostris
Mod. L. brevirostris  having a short beak  < L. brevis  short; -rostris  -billed  < rostrum  beak.