310 CHARADRIIFORMES CHAP, 



Europe and Asia in summer, and reaching the Mediterranean 

 in winter, is quite the smallest of the genus. 



The lovely Rhodostethia rosea, or Wedge-tailed Gull, of the 

 North Polar seas, supposed to breed on islets north of Asia and 

 America if not of Franz Josef Land, is easily distinguished by its 

 small black bill, red feet, black collar, and rosy lower parts. One 

 specimen is on record in Britain. Xema sabinii, or Sabine's Gull, 

 which nests on maritime marshes from Greenland westward to 

 the Taimyr Peninsula, wanders to Britain, France, the Bermudas, 

 and Texas, and annually visits Peru ; it may be recognised by its 

 plumbeous head, black collar, and forked tail. Of the larger 

 collarless X. furcatum, with a white basal band on the maxilla, 

 the only five examples known are from the Galapagos and Peru. 



Sub-fam. 3. Rhyncliopinde. Of this group the curiously com- 

 pressed beak and the habits have already been described (pp. 301, 

 304). The sole genus RliyncJiops, or Scissor-bill, contains five 

 species, of which R. nigra is black, with white forehead, cheeks, and 

 lower parts ; the wing-quills being also broadly tipped, and the 

 tail-feathers varied, with white. The bill and feet are red, with 

 a black end to the former. In winter the nape is whiter, while 

 the young are buff and blackish above. Breeding from New 

 Jersey to Florida, this bird strays to New Brunswick and 

 migrates to Trinidad, occurring also in South- West Mexico. 

 R. intercedens of South Brazil and Argentina, and the larger 

 R. melanura, of the North and West of South America, have 

 nearly uniform brown rectrices, but the latter has little white 

 on the secondaries. R. flavirostris, extending from Senegal to 

 Damara-Land, and from Egypt and the Eed Sea to Nyassa-Land, 

 has a red and orange beak ; R. allicollis, of India and Lower 

 Burma, differs from it in having the back of the neck white. 



Sub-fam. 4. Sterninae. The Terns may be commenced with 

 the snow-white Gygis Candida, which ranges from the islands east of 

 Brazil to Ascension, St. Helena, Madagascar and its vicinity, the 

 Indian Ocean, the Malay countries, Australia, the Ladrones, the 

 Sandwich Islands and Polynesia generally. The form and habits 

 have been already noticed (pp. 301, 303). The smaller slender- 

 billed G. microrhyncha seems to be peculiar to the Marquesas. 



Anous stolidus, termed with its congeners the " Noddies " from 

 their stolid indifference at times to man, chiefly frequents tropical 

 and sub-tropical regions, and has occurred once in Ireland. It is 



