^°m2^'] ALEXANDER, Australian Sea Birds. 271 



northern hemisphere (Yogel der I'alaearkt. Fauna, p. 1758). 

 Ridgway says that there are "at least four species or sub-species" 

 {Birds of X. and M. America, vol. viii., p. 675). Mathews re- 

 cognises eight forms belonging to four species. From my ob- 

 servations I do not consider it is possible to differentiate the 

 forms or species when met with at sea, and therefore for the 

 field observer it is convenient to be able to use a single name 

 to cover them all. I saw a few of these birds on the west coast 

 of South America in November, 1920. They were very plen- 

 tiful at the Cape of Good Hope in June, 1921, especially in 

 Table Bay, a few entering the Capetown docks and sitting on 

 the water with the gulls during very stormy weather on June 

 15th. A single individual was seen in the South z\tlantic in 

 longitude 10 deg. E., two days before we reached Capetown, 

 and another in the Indian Ocean in 27 deg. E,. two days after 

 leaving. Great numbers appeared again as we neared the West 

 Australian coast on July 6th, some being seen between Rottnest 

 Island and the mainland, and one flying over Fremantle harbour. 

 Several were seen in Moreton Bay, Queensland, on August 20th 

 and 21st, 1921. The amount of white on the wrings varies very 

 much, and not infrequently the white areas on the two w'ings 

 of the same individual are noticeably different. Captain Hutton 

 is responsible for a statement that they rarely settle on the water, 

 but this does not at all agree with my experience. Both off 

 South Africa and oft' Western Australia they were often to be 

 seen sitting on the water, rising up when the ship approached 

 and flying round for a time, and then frequently flying ahead 

 and settling down again as if to wait for her. They are said to 

 obtain their living largely by robbing Gulls and Terns, but in my 

 experience the majority of them frequent a zone further out to 

 sea than that frequented by the latter, only a few coming close 

 to land. On one occasion I saw a Skua catch a Gull by the tail 

 with its beak for a moment, but I don't think the Gull had any- 

 thing edible to give up. This was in the zone off the Cape, where 

 the Gulls were just beginning to turn back to the shore, and 

 the Skuas were arriving from the sea to take their place. 

 Off Fremantle the Skuas escorted us all the morning until we 

 were a few miles from Rottnest, when the majority left us just 

 as the Gulls began to come out from the island to meet the ship. 

 I consider, therefore, that Skuas are perhaps not as black -is 

 they have been painted. 



Stercorarius parasiticus. Arctic Skua. — A few birds of this 

 species were seen off Cape Moreton. Oueensland, on October 

 1st, 1921. 



Phalacrocorax fuscescens igouldi) and P. varius (hypo- 

 leucus). The two species of large white breasted Cormorants 

 have been much confused, and in consequence we have no clear 

 idea of the distribution of each. The R.A.O.U. Check-list gives 

 the range of the former as "Queensland, New South Wales. 

 Victoria. South and West Australia, Tasmania," and thar of the 



