PuFFiNUs. BIRDS. PALMIPIDES. 137 



Gen. XCIX. PUFFINUS. Puffin— Nostrils with separate 

 openings; extremity of the lower mandible bent down- 

 wards. 



220. P. Anglorum. Manks Puffin. — Wings longer than the 

 tail. 



Will. Orn. 251 — Lyra, Sibb. Scot. 22 — Procellaria Puffinus, Linn. Syst. 

 i. 213, Penn. Brit. Zool. ii. 551 — Proc. Ang. Temm. Orn. ii. 806 — £, 

 Shearwater ; W., Pwffingen Fanaw ; N, Lyre, Scrabe. — A summer vi- 

 sitant. 

 Length 15, breadth 32 inches ; weight 17 ounces. Bill an inch in length 

 before the nostrils ; blackish brown. Legs dusky without, yellowish on the 

 inside. Plumage, above, black ; beneath, white ; the sides of the neck freck- 

 led black and white. Female similar. — Nest in holes. Eggs 1, white. — Young 

 nearly resembling the old birds — This species arrives at its breeding places 

 in March, and departs in August. The young are very fat, and are sought 

 after by the inhabitants, killed, salted, and eaten with potatoes or cabbage. 



Gen. C. CATARACTES. Skua.— Nostrils near the mid- 

 dle of the mandible, and covered with a corneous plate, 

 reachino; to the base. Claw of the inner toe arched. 



Wllloughby, vvith propriety, separated this genus from the following. 

 —The species are bold, of rapid flight, and support themselves 

 chiefly on the food which they compel the Gulls to vomit. 



221. C. vulgaris. Common Skua. — Plumage brown; tail- 

 feathers nearly equal. 



C. noster. Will. Orn. 265. Sibb. Scot. 20.— Larus cat. Linn. Syst. i. 226- 



Penn. Brit. Zool. ii. 529 Cat. vul. Flem. Edin. Phil. Journ- i. 97 



Lestris Cat. Temm. Orn. ii. 792 — S, Sea Eagle ; A^, Skua, Skui, Bonxie. 

 Breeds in Zetland. 

 Length 25, breadth 55 to 58 inches; weight 54 ounces. Bill 2| inches 

 long, brownish-black. The upper mandible is rounded along the margin to- 

 wards the base, a little prominent in front of the nosti-ils above, and bent 

 downwards at the end like the hawks. The under mandible is bent inwards 

 at the edges ; at the apex it forms a gutter, sloping downwards ; at the base it is 

 grooved laterally ; and at the junction of the two sides, beneath, there is an an- 

 gular prominence. The eyes are surrounded with a narrow bare black orbit, 

 and the irides are hazel brown. The legs are covered with large black scales. 

 The claws sre strong, of a black colour, arched and grooved beneath. The plu- 

 mage, on the upper parts, is dark rust}' brown, with yellowish-white oblong 

 dusky spots. Each feather is dusky-brown on the edges, and yellowish-white 

 at the end near the shaft. The plumage, below, is lighter coloured, and on 

 the belly it is tinged with ash-grey. The feathers on the neck are wiry and 

 pointed, and have a narrow oil-green spot on the extremity. The wings reach 

 to the point of the tail. The shafts of the quills are Avhite. The outer web, 

 and the extremity of the first, deep brown; the tips only of the rest, brown ; the 

 remaining part, towards the base, is white. The covers of a few of the seconda=. 

 ries are white. The tail-feathers, which are twelve in number, are blunt ; the 

 shafts, and the webs at the base, are white ; towards the extremity the webs are 

 brown. There is no difference between the sexes, either in colour or size, in 



