BIRDS OF ICELAND 123 



Skua often engaging the parent in charge of the nest, 

 while the other secures the booty. On the sea they 

 will also pick up anything they see, or alight on the 

 water and gorge on a dead bird or floating carcase of 

 any kind. 



Stercorarius parasiticus (Linn.). 

 Buffon's Skua. 



Native name : ' Kjoi ' (partim). 



A rare occasional wanderer to the coasts, breeding 

 in Greenland, Spitzbergen, north Norway, etc. I do not 

 think that Icelanders usually distinguish between the 

 three smaller Skuas ; this one is probably not so 

 uncommon on the coasts in spring and autumn as the 

 existing; records would seem to indicate. Professor 

 Newton saw several at Kirkjuvogr (south-west), and 

 obtained a specimen shot at Keflavik in the same 

 neighbourhood; this was in 1858. In 1860 Preyer 

 saw a skin in Pteykjavik. I saw two near Langanes 

 (north-east), within a couple of miles of the coast, in 

 August 1894. No Icelander has recorded it. 



Buffon's Skua is a small edition of the light form 

 of Pdchardson's Skua, with a still longer tail, the two 

 central feathers, which are very narrow, projecting 7 to 9 

 inches beyond the rest of the tail. In all stages they 

 may be separated from Eichardson's Skua by the size, 

 and by the black shafts of the primary quills (except 

 the two outer ones on each side, which are white). In 



