110 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



Mr. Campbell also shewed a specimen of the Chilian Skua 

 Stercorarius chilensis, Saunders, and said: — 



In a paper by Mr. Howard Saunders on the Skua Gulls, which 

 was printed in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1876, 

 he describes (p. 323) a new species under the name of S. chilensis, 

 and which had till then been confounded with S. antartlca. The 

 specimens to which he refers were obtained at Mejillones, Bolivia, 

 in latitude 23° 5' S., at the end of February or beginning of March. 

 This species he distinguishes from S. antartlca by the ruddy chest- 

 nut colour of the under parts, and axillaries which in the latter 

 species are black ; and it agrees more nearly to S. cataractes, the 

 northern species. He also says, "in the absence of any reliable 

 information as to its breeding haunts it would be rash to indulge in 

 any speculation as to whether they are to the north or to the south 

 of the equator." This point I am glad to be able to clear up, 

 having found the species breeding on several points on the east 

 coast of South America, in Patagonia. I first observed this bird in 

 latitude 40° 7' S., and obtained specimens of it in Desire River, and 

 on an islet a little way up its nest and eggs were first obtained on 

 30th Nov. 1871. Subsequently it was found breeding at Port San 

 Julian, Watchman's Cape, and at Port Santa Cruz. At the latter 

 place, on a little island, a great many nests were found in Dec. of 

 the same year. The nest was merely a slight hollow in the ground 

 in which were a few stalks of dried grass, the eggs, two or three in 

 number, were about 2 J inches in greatest length and 2 inches in 

 breadth, and were of an olive brown, irregularly spotted and 

 blotched with ashy and rusty brown spots, more particularly at the 

 larger end, sometimes forming a distinct zone. The birds were 

 bold, and swooped so close that their wings, at times, almost 

 touched our faces. 



PAPERS READ. 



!.__« On St. AbVs Head and its Bird Life:' By Mr. John A. 

 Harvie-Brown, P.R.S.E., M.B.O.U., &c, V.-P. 



A good deal has already been written concerning St. Abb's Head 

 and its bird life, more especially in the Proceedings of the Berwick- 

 shire Naturalists 1 Field Club, which is, perhaps, the most perfectly 

 organised Society in Scotland. Very little has been left undone 

 in Berwickshire, and anything I have to say regarding St. Abb's 



