154 '^^^^ Irish Naturalist. August, 
being very wet, I did not leave the house ; but at eleven 
o'clock, as I was standing at the parlour window, looking 
down the estuary, and thinking it was in similar weather 
in October, 185 1, that the great flight of Richardson's 
Skuas appeared, I suddenly observed eleven dark-coloured 
birds slowly flying up the estuary. That they were skuas 
at once occurred to me, so taking my gun, I ran down to 
the shore, too late for a shot at the passing birds ; two or 
three more flocks passed out of range, but a little flock of 
Ave birds passing within shot, I was fortunate in obtaining 
one of the lot, which proved to be a beautiful adult Poma- 
torhine Skua. Several other flocks passed from time to 
time without coming within range ; but just before leaving 
the shore I obtained another fine adult. The flight for 
that day ceased about three o'clock, and as far as I could 
judge, all the birds coming under my observation were 
Pomatorhines, their clumsy-looking tails easily identifying 
them, showing in such strong contrast to the elegantly 
pointed tails of the smaller species. Next morning, the 
23rd, I was out early, and as I expected, found the flight 
continued. But, in consequence of the wind changing 
to north-west, the skuas kept along the westerly (Mayo) 
shore, on the opposite side of the estuary, and none during 
that day's flight came within range of my gun. I think 
more birds passed in the second day's flight, but owing to 
the distance at which they passed from the Moy View 
side of the estuary, I was unable to say decidedly to 
which species they belonged. Although the gale still con- 
tinued on the second day, all the skuas left the estuary, 
with the exception of a few tired birds, which very probably 
were unable to continue their course until after a day or 
two's rest on the sands. 
Some weeks after. Dr. Neligan, of Tralee, wrote to the 
Dublin Natural History Society, stating that on the 25th, 
Tralee harbour was visited by a large flight of skuas, both 
Pomatorhines and Richardson's, and a pair of the Great 
Skuas. While the gales lasted, they remained about the 
harbour for several days, but all disappeared on the gales 
subsiding. 
