503 



LESTRIS PARASITICA. PARASITIC SKUA. 



Larus parasiticus. Liun. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 



Stercorarius longicaudatus. Brisson, Ornithologie, VI. loo. 



Stercoraire parasite. Lestris parasitica. Temm. Man. d'Ornith IV. 501. 



Lesti-is parasiticus. Jenyns. Brit. Vert. Anim. 283. 



Lestris parasitica. Bonap. Comp. List, 6.3. 



Bill an inch and a twelfth in length ; tarsus an inch and 

 a half ; middle tail-feathers six or eight inches longer than 

 the rest, tapering to a fine point. Male in summer loith the 

 upper part of the head brownish-Mack ; the neck yellowish- 

 white, its lower hind part and all the vjjjicr parts blackish- 

 grey, the quills darker, the primaries icith the shafts white ; 

 lower parts white ; lower tail-coterts and under side of wings 

 dark greyish-brown. 



Adult in Summer. — This species, which, although alleged 

 to be Larus parasiticus of Linnseus, has been in a great 

 measure overlooked since his time, and only within these 

 twenty years distinguished from the last, is very similar to it 

 in form and colouring, but of smaller size, and yet of greater 

 length, the middle tail-feathers greatly exceeding those of 

 the other species. The body is rather slender ; the neck of 

 moderate length ; the head oblong, rather small. Bill about 

 the length of the head, nearly as broad as high at the base, 

 rather slender, straight, with the tip decurved. Upper man- 

 dible with the dorsal line straight to the end of the cere, 

 the ridge broad and convex, with a narrow groove on each 

 side, the nasal space covered by a thin plate, the branches 

 narrow and convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip 

 compressed, convex on the sides, curved over the lower, 

 thin-edged, but obtuse. Lower mandible with the inter- 



