NORTH AM ERIC AX BIRDS. 



37 



61. Ross's GULL (From Brehm). 



times. A large series of this rare and beautiful gull was obtained by Mr. John Mur- 

 doch at Point Barrow in the latter part of September and in October, 1881, and a 

 larger series might have been secured had the weather and other conditions been 

 favorable. In a letter published in the London Daily Chronicle last November, Dr. 

 Nansen, the most recent Arctic explorer, states that he found flocks of the Rosy or 

 Ross's Wedged-tailed Gull on August 6th in lattitude 81 38' and longitude 63 east. 

 The birds were seen near four small islands called "Hirtenland" by Nansen, a little 

 northeast of Franz Josef Land. He did not actually find the nests, but the birds were 

 so abundant that he concluded that their nests were near by. There seems to be no 

 reason to question the correctness of Nansen's determination or his surmise that the 

 birds were breeding not far away, as the presence of the gulls in such numbers in 

 that high latitude renders it very probable that they were breeding.* 



62. SABINE'S GULL. Xema sabinii Sab. Geog. Dist. Arctic regions; in 

 North America south to New York, the Great Lakes and Great Salt Lake. 



The Forked-tailed Gull breeds in the extreme northern portion of North America 

 and Asia, especially on the islands of the Arctic Ocean, depositing its eggs in a de- 

 pression of the sand, which is generally lined with bits of fine, dry grass; the nest 

 is also often made in beds of moss, with similar lining. This gull is recorded as 

 abundant in the marshes in the neighborhood of St. Michael's, Alaska, where it 

 breeds. Its food consists of worms and insects, which it obtains in mud lakes. On 

 the northwestern coast of Greenland, above Alison Bay, this species has been found 



* From T. S. Palmer's article: "Nansen's Discovery of the Breeding Grounds of the 

 Rosy Gull." Science, January 29, 1897. 



