•154 Messrs. H. Seebolim and J. A. Harvie Brown on 



Richardson^s Skua we obtained was shot at Stanavoialaclita ; 

 and we afterw^ards found it at Bougrai^, on the tundra opposite 

 Alexievka, and at Dvoinik, on the occasion of our first visit 

 to that place. The eggs were taken at three localities : — 

 Bougrai ; opposite Alexievka^ by Simeon^ who also shot the 

 bird ; and at Stanavoialachta. At the latter place, when com- 

 ing home after a long ramble OA^er the tundra, a pair, on a 

 level part of the tundra, attracted Hame-Brown-'s notice by 

 their curious antics, "which told of the nest being close at 

 hand. The birds often alighted within fifteen yards, raised 

 their wings above the back (when they did this the white or 

 dusky quills showed light upon the raised wing), shammed 

 lameness and sickness, and stood reeling from side to side as 

 if mortally wounded. If followed, they tried to lead him away ; 

 but if he again approached the vicinity of the nest, they flew 

 boldly towards him and stooped repeatedly. The nest con- 

 tained two eggs, and was placed on a tussock on mossy ground, 

 somewhat similar to the Grey-Plover ground before described. 

 It contained reindeer-moss in small quantities, and leaves of 

 the surrounding plants. We found another nest at Bougrai, 

 watching the bird to the nest, and both walking almost straight 

 up to it from different directions. Amongst all the specimens 

 of this bird seen or obtained, there were none of the parti- 

 coloured birds found commonly in this country. 



Stbrcorarius parasiticus (L.), Saund. P. Z. S. 1876, 

 p. 330. 



The BuflFon^s Skua was first identified by Seebohm on an 

 island near Alexievka, and was afterwards met with abun- 

 dantly on the tundra, especially at Bougrai, where a flock 

 of some hundreds had assembled, from which we shot about 

 a dozen examples. They behaved in exactly the same way 

 as a colony of Terns. When one was shot the rest of 

 the flock swooped down or hovered over it. We shot some 

 of them with dust-shot. After a time the flock would depart 

 for a quarter of an hour and settle widely apart all over the 

 tundra ; but they came back repeatedly ; and had we been sup- 



* Lit. old hut. 



