EHODOSTETHIA EOSEA, WEDGE-TAILED GULL. €59 



space ; tarsus rather stout, auteriorly scutellate, rough behind ; first toe short, with a 

 large curved claw ; auterior toes moderate, \vith their webs entire; claws rather large, 

 arched, compressed, acute ; plumage soft and full ; wiugs long, rather narrow, pointed ; 

 tail cuneate, of twelve feathers, of which the central are much larger than the lateral." 



Never haviug seen a specimen of the type of this genus, I have borrowed my diag- 

 nosis from Macgillivray. Its essential character lies in the cuneate tail, which is a pe- 

 culiarity not shared by any other species of the subfamily. The pattern of coloration 

 too is peculiar. 



The type of the genus was first named under, and for some years referred to, the 

 genus Larus. In 1838 Bonaparte first separated it generically under the name of Bossia. 

 This name, however, had previously been applied by Prof. Owen to a genus of cepha- 

 lopods. Shodostethia of Macgillivray is based upon the same type, and is the proper 

 name to be employed. The only known species of the genus is an inhabitant of the 

 arctic regions of North America, and corresponding latitudes in the Old World. 



EHODOSTETHIA EOSEA, Macgil. 



Wedge-tailed Gull. 



ianis roseus, Macgil., Mem. Wern. Soc. v, 1824, 249.— Jakd. & Selby, 111. Br. Orn. 1.S28, 



pi. 14.— Keys. & Blas., Wirb. Eur. 1840, 95. 

 Bossia rosea, Bp., List, 1838, 6i. 

 Bhodosteihia rosea, "Bp." (?Naum. 18,54, 212: ? Rev. Zool. Guer. 1855, 278).- BRrcii, 



J. f. O. 1853, 106.— Brijch, J. f. O.' 1855, 278.— Bp., Consp. ii, L-5fi, 230.— 



La WE., B. N. A. 1858, 856.— Cohes, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1862, 311 ; Key, 1872, 316 ; 



Check-list, 1874, No. 557. 

 Larus rossii, EiCH.. App. Parry's 2d Vov. 1625, 359 ; F. B. A. ii, 1831, 427.— WiLS., 111. 



1831, pi. 3.— NUTT., Man. ii, 1834, .— Aun., Orn. Biog. v, 18.39, 324 ; Syu. 



1839, 323 ; B. Am. vii, 1844, 130 (not figured).— Scm.., Eev. Grit. 1844, 128.— 



Naum., V. D. xiii, 1844, pi. 388, f. 3, 4.— Miln., Zool. 1847, 1694.— Ciiari.ks^w., 



Zool. 1847, 1782.— Degl., Orn. Eur. ii, 1849, 332.— Hakt., Br. B. 1872, 173 



(British instances). 

 Ehodostethia rossii, Macgil., Man. Orn. ii, 1842, 253 ; Br. B. v, 618. — Gray, Gen. of B. iii, 



1849, 653 ; List Br. B. 1863, 229.- Bp., Coiupt. Eend. 1856, 771.— Blas,, J. f. 0. 



1865, 370. 

 " Larus richardsoni, WiLS." (i^'irfe Bp.) (Where?) 



-Diag. B. caudd cuneatd, torque collari nigro, rostro nigra, pedibus riihris. 



Hob. — Arctic regions. No United States record. Europe. Great Britain (see Gray 

 & Harting, I. c). Heligoland ; Ibis, 1865, 103. 



Sp. ch. " Color. — Scapulars, interscapulars, and both surfaces of the wings, clear 

 pearl-gray ; outer web of the first guill blackish-brown to its tip, which is gray ; tips 

 of the scapulars and lesser quills whitish ; some small feathers near the eye, ami a 

 collar round the middle of the neck, pitch-black, rest of the plumage white ; the neck 

 above, and whole under plumage, deeply tinged with peach-blossom red in recent spec- 

 imens ; bill black ; its rictus, and the edges of the eyelids, reddish-orange ; legs and 

 feet vermilion-red ; nails blackish. 



"Form. — Bill slender, weak, with a scarcely perceptible salient angle beneath ; the 

 upper mandible .slightly arched and compressed toward the point ; the commissure 

 slightly curved at the tip. Wings an inch longer than the decidedly cuneifonn tail ; 

 the central feathers are an inch longer than the outer ones. Tarsi rather stout ; the 

 thumb very distinct, armed with a nail as large as that of the outer toe. 



"Dimensions. — Length, 14 inches; wing, 10.50; tail, 5.50; bill above, 0.75, along 

 gape, 1.25; tarsus, 1^." [Rich., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 427.] 



The Smithsonian Institution contains no specimens of this exquisite Gull ; and having 

 been unable to examine an individual elsewhere, I have been obliged to copy Ei chard- 

 son's description, as given in the Fauna Boreali-Ameiicana. There is little dyngi^r that 

 in the accounts by American authors of this spec.es there will be found material dis- 

 crepancies, since I have not met with a single one who has not t.akeu his description 

 wholly or in part from the same source. 



There are no specimens in America, to my knowledge. According to the editor of 

 the Ibis (1865), no more than five specimens were then known : the one from M( Iville 

 peninsula, June, 1823, in the University Museum, Edinbuigh ; another in the L'erhy 

 Museum, believed to be from the same source; one at Mayence, from Kumtschafka; 

 one in the Gsetke collection, from Heligoland ; and one in possession of Heir Beuzou, 

 of Copenhagen, obtained on the Fieroes in February, 1863. Mr. Harting cites an exam- 

 ple recorded (Zool. as abo\'e) irom Yorkshire, bat adds that accounts difier as to locality 

 and date of capture. 



Discussion of synongmy. — This Gull had the misfortune to be ushered into ornitholo- 



