618 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
and sucking the eggs of the Gulls, Guillemots, &c., 
that are unfortunate enough to be too near neigh- 
bours during the breeding season. 
I have taken the following description of Richard- 
son’s Skua from Yarrell:—‘ The young bird in its 
first autumn and winter has the base of the beak 
aud cere brownish grey, the rest black and much 
curved towards the point; irides dark brown; the 
head and neck pale brown, streaked with dark 
brown; back, wing-coverts and _ tertials umber- 
brown, margined with wood-brown; wing-primaries 
brownish black, tipped with pale brown; the tail- 
feathers pale brown at the base, then brownish black 
to the end, the central pair half an inch Jonger than 
the others; neck in front, breast, belly and under 
tail-coverts pale yellowish wood-brown, and trans- 
versely barred with umber-brown; legs and base of 
the toes yellow; ends of the toes and webs black,” 
hence the bird is at this period sometimes called the 
“ Blacktoed Gull;” as the bird increases in age the 
yellow is lost by degrees. The next stage noticed 
by Yarrell he supposes to be arrived at in the 
second year: the plumage is of a uniform greyish 
umber-brown, the whole of the light brown margins 
having disappeared. After this stage a few yellow 
hair-like streaks appear on the sides of the neck; 
next, the sides of the neck become lighter in colour, 
and in advancing age the neck all round becomes 
white, tinged with yellow, the head remaining the 
