§20 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
Mr. Sanford’s other birds, these feathers did not 
appear to me to be entirely missing, but were evi- 
dently just growing, and did not project more than 
half an inch beyond the rest of the tail-feathers, in- 
stead of nine inches, which appears to be their usual 
length. Wellington, near which place this bird was 
shot, is a considerable distance (nearly fourteen 
miles) inland from the coast of the Bristol Channel, 
the nearest sea; but this bird appears to make occa- 
sional expeditions inland, as it has been killed at 
Thetford, in the interior of Norfolk, and in Hunt- 
ingdonshire. 
The food of Buffon’s Skua appears to be much 
the same as that of the last-mentioned species, but 
perhaps it 1s not quite such a plunderer as some of 
the other Skuas, as it has been shot when following 
the plough in search of worms: it has also been 
proved by dissection to have fed upon beetles. 
I do not anywhere find much description of the 
breeding habits of this bird, but, as far as mentioned 
at all, they appear to resemble those of the other 
Skuas. 
This is rather a smaller bird than Richardson’s 
Skua, but the long middle tail-feathers project 
further beyond the rest of the tail. The adult 
bird, according to Yarrell, has the base of the bill, 
including the cere, dark greenish brown, the horny 
point black; irides brown; all the upper part of the 
head black; sides and back of the neck white, 
