306 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Siberia; an example was obtained near the winter-quarters of the ' Vega/ 

 on the coast of Tchuski Land ; Mr. Nelson obtained a specimen in Alaska, 

 and Mr. Ray procured it at Point Barrow. It has once occurred on the 

 Faroes and once on Heligoland. 



There are few birds whose habits are so imperfectly known as Ross's 

 Gull. An inhabitant of the high north, it appears to wander very little 

 from its ice-bound haunts ; and, at most, it can only be classed as a gipsy 

 migrant, appearing in more temperate climes at rare and uncertain intervals. 

 Its breeding-grounds are still unknown, and its nest and eggs still remain 

 a tempting prize, away in the mysterious icy north. Mr. Nelson met 

 with this exquisitely beautiful Gull in Alaska and obtained one example. 

 Mr. Newcomb, the naturalist on board the ' Jeanette/ shot several of 

 these birds, and describes them as very graceful and buoyant on the wing. 

 After the vessel was abandoned, and when the crew were making their 

 way over the ice towards the Siberian coast, they met with a number of 

 Ross's Gulls; but, unfortunately, they failed to record any of their habits. 

 Of its food, note, nidificationj &c., nothing is known. 



Ross's Gull is a very aberrant Gull ; its long, pointed, wedge-shaped 

 tail shows an apparent affinity to the Skuas, but the narrow black collar 

 round the neck of the adult bird points to an alliance with Sabine's Gull, 

 and the delicate rose-coloured tint of the underparts is only an exaggera- 

 tion of that on the Black-headed Gull and Roseate Tern. The head above 

 the collar is nearly white ; the rest of the upper parts are French grey, 

 shading into white on the tail and on the tips of the greater wing-coverts 

 and secondaries ; the outer web of the first primary is dark brown, but 

 none of the primaries have dark tips. The underparts are white, suffused 

 with rose-colour on the breast and belly, and with French grey on the 

 under wing-coverts. Bill black ; legs and feet vermilion ; orbits vermilion, 

 surrounded with a narrow ring of black ; irides hazel. Some examples are 

 without the black collar, but it is not known whether this is a mark of 

 adult winter plumage or of immaturity. Other examples, obviously imma- 

 ture, show a brown band across the wing-coverts and also across the tail. 

 Nothing further is known of the changes of plumage of this species. 



