26G 



LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS — LONGIPENNES. 



According to Temminck it feeds on insects and worms ; and on several occasions 

 where it was shot iu Great Britain it was found in company with different species 

 of Terns. 



Genus RHODOSTETHIA, Macgillivray. 



liossia, BoxAP. Comp. List, 1838, 62 (type, Larax roscus, Macgill. ; not of Owen, 1838). 

 Rhodoslcthia, Macgili,. Man. P>iit. Oin. II. 1842, 253 (same type). 



Gen. Char. " Body moderate ; neck rather short ; head ovate ; bill short, rather slender ; 

 upper mandible with its dorsal outline nearly straight for half its length, arcuate-decurvate toward 

 the end ; lower mandible witli tlie inteicrural space narrow, the knot sligljt, the dorsal line con- 

 cave, the tip narrow ; legs short ; tibiae bare for a very short space ; tarsus rather stout, anteriorly 



R. rosea, summer adult. 



scutelhxte, rough behind ; first toe short, with a large curved claw ; anterior toes moderate, with 

 their webs entire ; claws rather large, arched, compressed, acute ; plumage soft and full ; wings 

 long, rather narrow, pointed ; tail cuneate, of twelve feathers, of which the central are much larger 

 than the lateral" (Macgillivray). 



A single species only is known, tliis being one of the rarest of the family ; no specimen having 

 until very recently come to any American collection. 



Rhodostethia rosea. 



ROSS'S GULL ; WEDGE-TAILED GULL. 



Larus roseus, Macgill. Mem. Wern. Soc. V. 1824, 249. — .Jard. & Selby, Illustr. Orn. 1828, pi. 14. 



Lanes (Rhodostethia) roseus, Bruch, J. f. 0. 1853, 106. 



Rhodostethia rosea, Lawr. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 856. — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 678. — 



CouEs, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1862, 311 ; Kej', 1872, 316 ; Check List, 1873, no. 557 ; 2a ed. 



1882, no. 789 ; B. N. W. 1874, 659. — Saunders, Ibis, 1875, 484 ; P. Z. S. 1878, 208. — Ridgw. 



Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 676. 

 Larus Rossii, KiCH. App. Parry's 2a Voy. 1825, 359 (Melville Peninsula) ; F. B. A. II. 1831, 427. — 



NuTT. Man. II. 1834, 295. — Aud. Orn. Biog.V. 1839, 324 ; Synop. 1839, 323 ; B. Am. VII. 1844, 



130. 

 Rhodostethia Rossii, Macgill. Man. Orn. II. 1842, 253. 



Hab. Region of Melville Peninsula, chiefly. Disco Bay ; Heligoland ; Faroes ; Yorkshire, 

 England ; Point Barrow, ALiska, and Arctic Ocean north of Siberia ;^ Kamtschatka ? 



Sp. Char. Adult, in summer: "Color. Scapulars, interscapulars, and both surfaces of the 



^ For fiiU list of the specimens (eleven in number) known to e.xist in collections to that date, see the 

 "Ibis," 187.5, p. 487. 



