138 On the Breeding-grounds of the Rosy Gull. 



G avian eggs, perhaps because the dark markings do not 

 stand out very clearly on the deep olive-green ground- 

 colour. 



During the daytime'even the female readily leaves the nest, 

 and flies about the pools of water or walks over the melting 

 ice, picking up insects and often slipping in a curious way 

 on the surface. But in the night — the sunny Arctic night — 

 the Rosy Gulls which mob you at some distance from the 

 colony are invariably males. 



The Rosy Gull can hardly be called a peaceful bird, though 

 the Terns, comparatively weak as they are, generally begin 

 the trouble, for it is quite prepared to fight, if challenged. 

 Usually the Tern distances its rival in the air, but I have 

 seen the Gull catch it on the wing and give it a good shake. 

 I once saw a female Rosy Gull pounce ferociously on an 

 innocent Calcarius lapponicus which was passing, but she 

 was in a very nervous state owing to my examination of her 

 nest, which was going on. 



When an intruder visits the colony, the Gulls fly overhead 

 and scream, but are far less noisy and anxious than the 

 Terns. If he sits down, they very soon become quiet, and 

 the female settles down on her eggs even within thirty or forty 

 yards, and so betrays their position. If the nest is approached, 

 both parents hover overhead persistently, but do not venture 

 nearer than fifteen or twenty-five yards, the male being usually 

 silent, but the female screaming and uttering cries of various 

 descriptions — now the regular note of " kiaoo, kiaoo, kiaoo ; 

 miaw, miaw, viaw, viaw ; trrrrr"; now the true Larine 

 " kwa, kwa, kwa," or even a Tern-like " ee, ee, ee-kwa, iew," 

 all with very varied intonation. When the nest has been 

 passed some twenty or thirty paces the female settles down 

 and looks to see if the eggs are still there — on one occasion 

 only, after I had taken the eggs, did she pursue me angrily 

 at close quarters until I had left the colony ; this was an 

 intensely coloured, and evidently a very old, bird. 



The Rosy Gull and its eggs are too small to be hunted up 

 by the Lamuts or Chukchas of the delta, and rapacious birds 



