196 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



a country which is described as a slightly rolling " tuudra " 

 studded with lakes and ponds ; and although the species are 

 little more than fifty in number^ several are worthy of" 

 special notice. Among the latter is one of the group of 

 Great Northern Falcons, bearing the somewhat cumbrous 

 name of Hlerofalco gyrfalco sacer, Ridgw. ; and the breed- 

 ing-habits and nest of the Pectoral Sandpiper [Tringa macu- 

 lata) are now fully described by the finder of the eggs, one of 

 which has been figured in Mr. Seebohm^s ' British Birds ' 

 (pi. 68), from a specimen lent by the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. The Buft-breasted Sandpiper {Tryngites riifescens) 

 was also abundant from the early part of June, depo- 

 siting its eggs on the higher and drier parts of the tundra, 

 and never in the lower marshy portions. The most 

 abundant bird was the King Eider [Somateria sjjectabilis) , 

 flights of thousands passing still further northwards from 

 tlie latter part of April, comparatively few remaining to 

 breed in the vicinity of the settlement ; and on the return- 

 migration in autumn the numbers were not nearly so great. 

 Most interesting of all, however, is the description of Ross's 

 Gull [Rhodostetlda rosea), with two coloured plates illus- 

 trating two stages of plumage in this once rare bird, far 

 more specimens of which were obtained at Point Barrow 

 than previously existed in all the museums and collections 

 put together. None were obtained in spring; but in 

 September and October large flights, consisting principally of 

 birds of that same year, approached the shore from the south- 

 west, travelling in a north-easterly direction. Nor were any 

 seen to return ; but the supposition is that they retrace their 

 course, when out of sight of land, on meeting the pack-ice, 

 on the edge of which they pass the winter ; and it is sug- 

 gested that one of their breeding-grounds may be on some 

 undiscovered land north of Wrangel Island. The captain 

 of a whaler, considered to be a trustworthy witness, who re- 

 ported having seen large numbers over loose ice north-west 

 of Cape Hope (say in about 69° N. lat.) on June 10th, 

 1883, was probably not far from some land where they would 

 breed. With the return of the expedition the chance of 



