ROSS’S GULL. 
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peculiar shrill and plaintive cry. Small flocks, early in au- 
tumn, are occasionally seen on the coast of Massachusetts, and 
sometimes high in the air their almost melodious whistling is 
heard as they proceed on their way to the South, or inland to 
feed. Their prey appears to be chiefly insects ; and two which 
I had an opportunity of examining were gorged with ants and 
their eggs, and some larvte of moths in their pupa state. These 
birds both old and young are good food. 
Bonaparte’s Gull ranges throughout North America, breeding 
in the fur countries, and migrating by inland and coast routes to 
and from its winter resorts in the southern portions of the United 
States. 
Small numbers of these Gulls are seen on the New England 
coast during the summer, but no evidence has been produced of 
their having nested in this vicinity, and they probably build no 
farther south than about latitude 43°. It has been suggested that 
the examples that loiter through the summer without reaching the 
breeding-grounds are immature or unfertile birds. In the autumn 
— from early August on — large flocks of these birds swarm along 
the coast. 
ROSS’S GULI.. 
WEDGE-TAILED GULL. 
Rhodostethia rosea. 
Char. Mantle pearl gray; head and tail white; a narrow collar of 
black around the neck, and a few black feathers near the eyes; outer 
feather of the wings black ; tail long, pointed, and wedge-shaped ; bill 
slender and black ; legs and feet dull red, — “ terra cotta,” — claws black. 
Length 12/4 inches. 
In winter the black collar is absent, and the crown is tinged with gray. 
Young birds are distinguished by a band of brownish black on wings and 
tail. 
JVesi and Egg's. Unknown. 
Although discovered so long ago as 1823, very little is yet known 
of the habits or distribution of this Gull. So late as 1881, only 
twenty-three specimens were to be found in the museums of the 
world, and the species was supposed to be exceedingly rare, until 
the American expedition to Point Barron saw large loose flocks 
