ROSS GULL; WEDGE-TAILED GULL 
61. Rhodostethia rosea. 13 in. 
Bill short and slender; tail wedge-shaped. Adults in 
summer.—With no hood, but with narrow black collar; 
mantle light pearl; primaries wholly white with the 
exception of a blackish outer web to the first one; feet 
coral red, and underparts tinged with rosy in the nest- 
ing season. In winter, with no black collar nor pink 
underparts, and with blackish spot before the eye. 
Young mixed with blackish above, and with a_ black 
band across the tip of the tail; feet black; easily dis- 
tinguished, when in the hand, by the very small bill, 
and the wedge shaped tail. This gull has the most 
northern distribution of any known bird, except, pos- 
sibly, the Knot. Its breeding grounds were first re- 
ported by Nansen in 1896, in Franz Josef Land. It is 
one of the rarest birds in collections. 
Range.—Polar regions, south in winter to Point Bar- 
row, Alaska, and Disco Bay, Greenland. 
