BIRDS OF ICELAND 119 



the wing measures 16 inches. The plumage of both 

 sexes is alike, viz. brown all over, with darker wings 

 and tail, and fulvous tips to the feathers of the 

 head, throat, and upper parts ; the wing-quills have 

 white bases which form a conspicuous white bar, 

 hardly visible except in flight. The young birds are 

 rather more mottled with fulvous, and show very little 

 tendency to hackle-shaped feathers on the neck, which 

 are a feature of the adult. 



The Great Skua is a powerful bird, of strong flight, 

 and is often seen many miles from land, but does not, 

 in Iceland, go any distance inland to breed as some of 

 the smaller Skuas do, preferring, for that purpose, sand- 

 dunes near the sea. It is a bold and rapacious crea- 

 ture, robbing? gulls and frannets, at their fishing-c^rounds, 

 of the fruits of their labour; but no carrion comes 

 amiss to it, and it is quite capable (and occasionally 

 inclined that way) of killing and eating smaller gulls. 

 The nestlings wear a grey down, and by the end of 

 August are full grown. 



Stercorarius pomatorhinus (Temm.). 



POMATORHINE SkUA. 



Native name : ' Kjoi ' (partim). 



An irrecjular visitor to the coast from autumn to 

 spring, occasionally shot along the shores. I have not 

 myself seen it, not having devoted any attention to the 

 coast-line, nor been in Iceland later than the end of 



