61. Rhodostethia rosea. 13 in.

Bill short and slender; tail wedge-shaped. Adults in summer. - With no hood, but with narrow black collar; mantle light pearl; primaries wholly white with the exception of a blackish outer web to the first one; feet coral red, and underparts tinged with rosy in the nesting season. In winter, with no black collar nor pink underparts, and with blackish spot before the eye. Young mixed with blackish above, and with a black band across the tip of the tail; feet black; easily distinguished, when in the hand, by the very small bill, and the wedge shaped tail. This gull has the most northern distribution of any known bird, except, possibly, the Knot. Its breeding grounds were first reported by Nansen in 1806, in Franz Josef Land. It is one of the rarest birds in collections.

Range. - Polar regions, south in winter to Point Barrow, Alaska, and Disco Bay, Greenland.