228 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Ross's Gull. RhodostetJiia rosea (Macgill.). 



Ross's Gull is a bird of Arctic seas, and so far has been 

 found nesting in one place only, in north-eastern Siberia. The 

 bird has been included as British on the strength of a single 

 occurrence in Yorkshire in 1846 or 1847, but the history of this 

 specimen is marred by discrepancy, and it was " discovered by 

 a dealer " who promptly sold it. Saunders was doubtful about 

 including it, but Nelson thought that it really had been killed 

 in the countr)', though the editors of the Field expressed a 

 healthy scepticism. The best evidence brought forward was 

 that the bird was recorded for Heligoland, but may not German 

 dealers have found credulous purchasers even on Heligoland? 

 The most likely locality to be exploited is one where rarities 

 are known to occur. The bird is pale grey and white, the head 

 and under parts suffused with a rosy tinge ; the outer primary 

 has a black outer web. The short bill is black, the legs are 

 coral-red, the irides brown. In summer only, the neck is 

 encircled by a narrow black collar. Immature birds are 

 mottled with greyish brown and white on the wings. Length, 

 13"5 ins. Wing, 10*25 i^^s. Tarsus, i'25 ins. 



Sabine's Gull. Xema sahinii (Sabine). 



Sabine's gull (Plate 98) is a circumpolar Arctic species 

 which visits western Europe in winter with some degree of 

 regularity ; it is recorded almost every autumn or winter from 

 the east coast of England, and has been met with elsewhere in 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland as an occasional visitor. The 

 majority of the birds which reach us are immature. 



Apparently the wind or other agency that drives Sabine's 

 Gull to our shores is the same which affects the Grey Phalarope 

 and Little Gull ; when these two are here we may look out tor 

 the rarer bird. On the wing it is graceful and tern-like, and its 



