V °!'8^ VI ] Murdoch, A Historical Notice of Ross's Rosy Gull. I 5 I 



likely to find it than, for instance, the English Arctic expedition 

 of 1875. At all events, we were entirely unprepared for what 

 really happened. 



We reached our station late in the season, and at the begin- 

 ning experienced much bad weather. For several weeks, all our 

 energies were devoted to building our house and getting our 

 supplies under cover, and it was the end of September before 

 there came a little lull in the work so that I was able to get out 

 for a day's shooting. It was on September 28 that I shot my 

 first specimen. I well remember the day, beautifully clear and 

 cold with a fresh northeast wind. The ground was frozen hard 

 and a light fall of snow lay upon the earth. As I walked up the 

 beach, several flocks of small graceful Gulls passed me, moving 

 towards the northeast, but out of gunshot. As they whirled in 

 the sunshine, I thought I noticed that some of them were rosy 

 underneath. Could they be the famous Rosy Gulls? As may 

 be fancied, I grew a little excited. The question was soon 

 settled, for a flock at last came within range, and a fortunate 

 shot brought down a bird which proved to be a fine adult in 

 winter plumage. I came home well pleased with myself, as may 

 be supposed, but unfortunately my skinning tools and arsenic 

 were not yet accessible, so I laid the bird carefully away on a 

 barrel in the cold store tent to be attended to at the first oppor- 

 tunity. But I had failed to reckon with the ubiquitous Eskimo 

 dogs, and when I came to look for my precious bird, it had van- 

 ished ! 



For nearly a month, the Gulls continued to pass in large 

 numbers, moving generally towards the northeast, but nearly all 

 were out of reach over the water. Besides, we were so busy 

 getting settled and beginning the meteorological and magnetic 

 work for the year, that no time was allowed us for collecting. 

 We ornithologists consoled ourselves with the belief that we 

 should get plenty of them in the spring, but to our great surprise, 

 we did not see a single one, either in spring or summer, and the 

 same was true of the season of 1883. Plainly, therefore, they 

 did not breed anywhere close to Point Barrow. 



Early in September, however, they began to appear again, a 

 few stragglers at first, out among the loose pack ice, and on Sep- 



