308 BIRDS OF EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA 



above. Legs and feet black. Wing 345-370. Tarsus 50-56. 

 Bill 34-40. Young : above dark brown with rufous tips, beneath 

 dull white obscurely barred light brown, axillaries and under wing 

 coverts dark brown barred white, tail feathers and primaries dark 

 brown with white bases, and latter with white on inner web, central 

 tail feathers not twisted and only slightly lengthened. Both adults 

 and young have a light and dark phase ; in the latter phase 

 plumage is almost uniform dark brown. 



Breeds, — Circumpolar ; Murman Coast, Waigatz, Nova Zembla, 

 Spitzbergen, tundras of N. Asia, Alaska, Greenland. Comes 

 south in autumn and winter but seen chiefly at sea, even mid- 

 ocean ; occasionally in Black and Mediterranean Seas, in E. 

 Atlantic south to Madeira and W. African Coast, in W. Atlantic 

 south to New York and Pennsylvania, and on N. Pacific 

 Coasts both Asiatic and American. 



Stercorarius parasiticus parasiticus (L.). Richard- 

 son's Skua. Ger. Schmarotzerraubmowe ; Ital. Labbo ; Siued. 

 Vanlig Labb. 



$ 5 Smaller than " pomarinus " and greyer brown ; black of 

 head not descending below gape, feathers of nape slightly 

 lengthened ; beneath white (throat and chest in some greyish) ; 

 central tail feathers tapering, projecting 80-90 m.m. beyond 

 others ; ist four primaries at least have white shafts, and 

 inner webs are white towards root. Bill black, brownish at 

 base above. Legs and feet black. Wing 310-328. Tarsus 

 40-46. Bill 26-29. A dark phase occurs, in which upper parts 

 are dark brown, and underparts lighter brown. Young : above 

 dark brown with rufous buff tips ; beneath mottled brown and 

 buff, or white mottled and barred with brown, under tail coverts 

 barred brown and white or rufous. 



^r^^^j.— Circumpolar ; N. Scotland, Hebrides, Orkneys, 

 Shetlands, Faroes, Iceland, Norwegian Coasts, Sweden, N. 

 Russia, Waigatz, Nova Zembla, Franz Joseph Land, Jan Mayen, 

 Spitzbergen ; and in N. Siberia, Arctic America and Greenland. 

 Wanders south in autumn and winter ; has been met with in 

 Volga Valley on migration ; not common in Mediterranean ; 

 occurs chiefly down Coasts of W. Europe and W. Africa as far as 

 Cape of Good Hope ; also Coasts of America and India. 



