LARIDit. 



659 



THE WEDGE-TAILED GULL. 



Rhodostethia rosea, Macgillivray. 



An example of this Gull in winter-plumage passed through the 

 hands of Graham, the notorious bird-stuffer of York, and was said to 

 have been shot near Tadcaster in December 1846 or February 1847 ; 

 it was afterwards purchased by the late Sir Wm. M. E. Milner, and 

 is now in the Museum of Leeds. According to several experts, it 

 presents the appearance of a specimen which has been mounted 

 from a relaxed skin, and not direct from ' the flesh ' ; but inasmuch 

 as this Arctic species wandered to Heligoland in February 1858, 

 and to the FcSroes in 1863, there is no inherent improbability of 

 its occurrence in Yorkshire, and it has been generally admitted to 

 the British list. 



This beautiful rose-breasted bird is often called Ross's Gull, 

 after the late Sir James C. Ross, who discovered it on June 23rd 1823 

 on Melville Peninsula, during Parry's second Expedition, while it 

 was subsequently observed at Felix Harbour, Boothia ; and several 

 examples were seen on Parry's boat-voyage to the northward of Spits- 

 bergen, as well as in Hinlopen Strait. At long intervals, six speci- 

 mens were obtained in Greenland prior to 1885, and two immature 

 birds in the Mainz Museum are said to have come from Kamchatka. 

 The Austro-Hungarian Expedition procured one on Franz Josef 

 Land, and Baron von Nordenskiold's party in the ' Vega ' shot one 



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