680 



GA VIjE. 



LARID^. 



LARID^. 



Steecokarius parasiticus (Linnaeus*). 

 THE LONG-TAILED OR BUFFON'S SKUA. 



Lestrif^ Buffonii, 



This smallest species of the genus Stercorarlus, although 

 much more rare than the Arctic Skua, has occasionally been 

 taken in this country, generally in autumn. It is distinctly 

 circumpolar in its breeding-range, and although it has been 

 said to nest sporadically in Caithness and the Orkneys, 

 the evidence can hardly be considered conclusive. Mr. R. 

 Gray states that in the summer of 18G3 he examined a pair 

 shot on the island of Wiay in the Hebrides, as they hovered 

 over a marsh where there were nests of the Arctic Skua, 



* Larus par-asilicus, Linnreus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 226 (1766). The 

 Editor be'ieves that he has shown (P. Z. S. 1876, p. 327) that the deseription 

 given by Linnwus can only apply to this species, although the name was subse- 

 quently transferred, most unfortunately and impro])evly, to the Ai-ctic Skua. 



