SKUAS 307 



forms mate indiscriminately, though pairs which 

 match in colour are perhaps the most common." 



BUFFON'S SKUA.i Lestris parasiticits (Linnaeus). PI. 

 35, fig. 5. Length, 22 in. ; bill, 1"5 in. ; wing, 12 in. ; 

 tarsus, 2 in. 



An occasional visitant, chiefly in autumn, some- 

 times in considerable numbers, as in 1879 and 1880. 

 According to Robert Gray (p. 499), this bird used 

 formerly to breed in Caithness and also in Shetland, 

 but it is not unlikely that the Arctic Skua may have 

 been mistaken for it. At all events the statement 

 in question remains unsupported by any evidence. 

 See Buckley and Harvie-Brown, "Fauna of Caith- 

 ness," 1887, p. 236. A good account of the breeding 

 habits of this species, as observed in Lapland, will 

 be found in Wheelwright's " Spring and Summer in 

 Lapland," pp. 355-359. The measurements above 

 given were taken by me from a freshly killed 

 specimen shot in Skye, May 6, 1897. 



POMATORHINE SKUA. Lestris pomatorUnus, Tem- 

 minck. PI. 35, fig. 5. Length, 21 in. ; bill, 1-75 in. ; 

 wing, 14*25 in. ; tarsus, 2 in. 



The specific name of this bird is generally 

 written " pomarine," '' pomarinus ;" but, as pointed 

 out by Mr. Sclater, the above is the correct ortho- 

 graphy, from -TTw/j.a, TTWjuaTog, operculum, and /o<?, 

 /5tvo?, nasus. It was first noticed as a British bird 



1 Stercorarius longicaudus, Vieillot, Gould, 'and Newton {Ibis, 1865, 

 p. 511). Lestris buffoni, Boie, Bonaparte,'' Hewitson, and originally 

 Yarrell. 



