Breeding-grounds of the Rosy Gull. 663 



grounds *. And though the last Polar expedition of the late 

 Baron Toll met with Rosy Gulls near Kotelny Island on 

 the 7th and 8th of August (1902), and at Bennett Island 

 in August 1902 and Sept. 11th, 1901, this only proves to 

 me that the bird does not breed there. The same may be 

 said about Franz-Josef-land, where the Duke of AbruzzPs 

 expedition during one summer in the north, and the Jackson- 

 Harmsworth expedition during three summers in the south 

 of that land, failed to find the bird f, while Dr. Nansen 

 in 1895 met with the first bird only on the 14th of July. 



Sandy or pebble-clad beaches, rocky slopes, and high stony 

 tundra of such polar islands as Franz-Josef-land, Novaya 

 Zemlia, Bennett Island, or Wrangell-land, are as unlikely 

 places for the Rosy Gull to breed on as floating ice. During 

 the nesting-season, in June and the early part of July, it is 

 a frequenter of low, grassy, flat swamps, on the tundra or 

 even adjoining parts of the taiga. 



This bird is said by the natives to breed near Ssredny- 

 Kolymsk (67° 26^' N.), and a specimen with the wings not 

 fully developed was brought to me there. As it breeds 

 abundantly at v. Malaya on the Alazeya River (just to the 

 south of 68°) X, this is quite probable. One of the natives 

 prepared for me some bird-skins near v. Abyi (which lies on a 

 low plain, full of lakes, just to the west of the Indigirka River, 

 about 68|° N., 145° E.) ; and among them were some skins 

 of Rhodostethia rosea, which is, according to this native, a 

 common bird there in the first half of the summer. A nest 

 with eggs was also found by Mr. Rajnowski in the delta of the 

 Indigirka, near Russkoe Ustje (about 70° N. and 149^° E.). 

 Lastly, I obtained in Verkhojansk (Q7° 33^' N., about 133° E.) 

 skins of Rhodostethia rosea (along with those of Xema sabinii 

 Somateria stelleri, and some others, all in breeding-dress) ; 

 and was informed that a large flock of Rosy Gulls had 



* Cf. Eagle Clarke, ' Ibis,' April 1898, p. 263. 



t I may add, that in 1905, when my observations were made, the 

 spring in the Kolyma Basin was somewhat late and the summer 

 unusually cold. 



1 Where no tundra occurs. 



