STERCORARIID/E. 



689 



THE POMATORHINE SKUA. 



Stercorarius pomatorhinus (Temminck). 



This species is of tolerably regular occurrence on the coasts of 

 Great Britain ; especially on the eastern sea-board, where a remark- 

 ably large migration was noticed in the autumn of 1879, and another, 

 less extensive, in October 1880. Some individuals remain through- 

 out the winter on our southern shores, and have been met with far 

 inland, after severe gales, but comparatively few are seen on the 

 spring passage. In Ireland the appearance of this bird is irregular. 



In varying numbers the Pomatorhine Skua is a visitor to the 

 coasts of Europe. Though observed to the northward of the 

 Spitsbergen group — and abundant in some years during August 

 in the eastern islands — it has not yet been proved to breed in that 

 archipelago ; nor has it been actually obtained on Franz Josef Land, 

 though it occurs on both islands of Novaya Zemlya. In 1895, Mr. 

 Popham found nests near the mouth of the Yenesei, while Midden- 

 dorff had previously obtained eggs on the Taimyr tundras further 

 to the eastward. Thence, the bird can be traced to Bering Sea ; 

 and it occurs across Arctic America to Baffin Bay. In North 

 Greenland it appears to breed in colonies above Egesdesminde ; 

 while it has been obtained in Jan Mayen and Iceland, and visits 



3 H 



