GREAT SKUA. 667 



wing-coverts aucl axillaries dark brown ; legs, toes, and their 

 membranes, black ; the tarsi scutellated in front, reticulated 

 behind ; the inner claw the strongest and the most curved. 

 In many examjjles the acuminate feathers of the nape, and 

 the centres of those of the back, are streaked and margined 

 with greyish-white. The whole length is twenty-four to 

 twenty-five inches ; the wing from the anterior bend sixteen 

 inches. 



The female is quite as large as the male, and the sexes do 

 not differ in appearance ; nor does this species assume with 

 age the lighter colour of the underparts observed in some 

 other members of this genus. Mr. G. T. Fox says of one 

 example which had been kept alive ten years, that the 

 plumage had undergone no change of colour at any of the 

 annual moultings. A specimen brought to Dr. Neill in the 

 summer of 1820, when a nestling, was alive at the Cannon- 

 Mills in October, 1843, being then in its twenty-fourth 

 year, but Dr. Neill sent the Author word at that time, that 

 he feared his old Skua would not survive the winter. The 

 plumage had become very pale, and the head especially 

 greyish-white. Melanic varieties are occasionally met with, 

 but they are uncommon. 



The nestling is covered with a buffish-grey down, ruddier 

 on the upper parts. 



