ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. ^ Bl5 



? Lams borealis Brandt. 



Taczan., B. S. Z. F., 1882, p. 397. 



"Des Oiseaux et des oeufs de I'lle Behring." Probably L. glaucescens is meant ; or 

 else it is L. cachinnans with an erroneous locality, for this latter species does not 

 breed on Bering Island. 



23. Larus cachinnans Pall. 



At the entrance to Avatcha Bay I observed a number of these birds 

 during the latter part of September, 1883. 



24. Larus kamtschatchensis (Bp.) (p. 73). 



25. Larus canus Lin. (p. 7G). 



26. Larus ridibundus Lin. (p. 76). 

 Rhodostethia rosea (Macgill.). 



Two specimens in immature plumage are in the museum of Mayence, said to have 

 come from Kamtschatka. 



Mr. Howard Saunders gives a detailed account of them in the Ibis for 1875, pp 484- 

 487, but doubts the correctness of the statement as to the locality, as follows : 



"The history of these specimens is not very satisfactory. They were purchased 

 some years ago from the Maisou Verreaux, and were stated to have come from Kam- 

 tschatka. When the late M. Jules Verreauy was staying with me, in 1870, 1 had a good 

 deal of conversation with him about Larid*. and the Burch collection, and I remember 

 his expatiating upou the beauty, and especially the lovely rose-tint, of two specimens 

 which he had sent to the Mayence Museum ; he also persisted that they really did 

 come from Kamtschatka, and that he had them from a Pole who had been there It 

 was impossible to contradict him ; but for various reasons, upon which I need not 

 enlarge, I was skeptical as to the locality, and continue to be so. It is true that 

 another Arctic species (Xcma sabinii) has been found breeding in both continents- but 

 then Its range can be traced from Greenland right across the American continent and 

 It 18 quite natural that it should pass into Siberia; whereas the Americans with all 

 their energy and research, have hitherto failed to acquire a single specimen of Rho- 

 dostethia rosea, either in their own Alaska possessions or in those portions of Kam- 

 tschatka visited by the United States Telegraph Surveying Expedition, which was 

 accompanied by most able naturalists. In fact, what little we do know about this 

 gull tends to show that its habitat is extremely restricted ; but upon this point it is 

 needless to say more, as our Arctic expedition will, we trust, give us some further 

 account of it." 



Now that we know that Nordenskjold's Vega expedition obtained a 

 specimen on the northeastern coast of Siberia, and the Point Barrow 

 party collected numerous specimens at that locality, the occurrence of 

 stragglers of the species in question on the coast of Kamtschatka is 

 not stranger than its accidental appearance in Yorkshire or in Heligo- 

 land. 



27. Rissa tridactyla pollicaris Stejn. (p. 78), 



28. Rissa brevirostris (Bruch) (p. 82). 



29. Gaviaalba (Gunn.). 



Taczan., B. S. Z. F., p. 1883,341. 

 30; Sterna camtschatica Pall. (p. 83). 

 31. Sterna paradisasa But^xN. (p. 85). 



