POMATORHINE SKUA. 699 



morning ; on the i6th the wind slackened, and none were 

 observable ; but the gale freshened on the 17th, and I saw 

 about fifty in small bands of seven or eight together, whilst 

 on the 28th two adults were seen. 



As remarked in previous chapters, when treating of the 

 migratory movements of Gulls in a north-east gale, these 

 Skuas all flew in a north-westerly direction. At other stations 

 on the coast the fight was observed ; at Scarborough thirty 

 specimens were brought to the late Alfred Roberts, who stated 

 that many more were obtained, and in thirty years' experience 

 as a taxidermist he had never had a bird of this species before. 

 At Filey, Flamborough, and Bridlington also, heavy toll was 

 levied on the migrating bands. Many were driven inland 

 by the force of the gale, and were reported from parts of the 

 county far removed from the coast line, and, doubtless, 

 numbers were not identified. As to the causes which led to 

 this historic irruption of Skuas, the late E. T. Booth of 

 Brighton was of opinion that it was not an unusual occurrence, 

 except that the storm drove the birds ashore as they were 

 passing far out at sea in the course of their normal migration, 

 and so they came under the notice of observers. Another 

 theory was that the Skuas merely followed the Gulls, which 

 in turn followed the herring shoals that were very abundant 

 that year ; but the facts as stated, with regard to my observa- 

 tions at Redcar, lead me to differ from this view. The birds 

 noticed on the 8th and 9th October were evidently on migra- 

 tion, not stopping to pursue the Terns and Gulls as is their 

 ordinary custom ; they were in small parties, and the very 

 fact of so many as fifty being seen in one day, and a hundred 

 on the following day, was so unusual that we must look to 

 some other cause for elucidation of the mystery (cf. Zool. 

 1880, pp. 18, 19, 511 ; and Field, 1897, ist November to 

 20th December, and 1880, 3rd and 17th January). 



In the year following another great migration occurred 

 during a terrific storm from the north-east on 28th October ; 

 most of the Skuas then seen were adults, and during the 

 height of the storm several hundreds passed Redcar, flying 

 close to the Esplanade, and struggling to make headway 



