THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 1G9 



numbers of these Skuas were seen at the same time 

 by the fishermen on the South Coast of Devon. 



A.RCTIC OR RICHARDSON'S SKUA.— 

 Sfercorarius crepidatus (Gmel). 

 An Autumn visitant to the North and South Coasts 

 of Devon, occasionally met with in the Spring 

 months ; as was the case in 1860, when a male bird 

 was picked up dead in a field near Kingsbridge on 

 the 29th of May, and taken to Mr. H. Nicholls 

 (Zool. 1860, p. 7106). On the 25th of November, 

 1872, Gatcombe '' saw a fine adult Richardson's 

 Skua fly past the Devil's Point at Stonehouse. Its 

 somewhat gliding flight was swift and elegant, but 

 it did not attempt to molest any of the smaller gulls 

 on its way, so I think it was merely seeking refuge 

 from the heavy gale that was blowing at the time. 

 I was near enough to see that its upper plumage was 

 smoke-gray, with a white patch or two on the 

 wings, such as most, if not every species of Skua is 

 sometimes subject to. The top of its head was very 

 dark, nearly black, and the neck light tinged with 

 straw yellow. I possess a mature specimen of 

 Richardson's Skua, the butts of the wings of which 

 are pure white, and there are also white patches on 

 other parts of the body " (Zool. 1873, p. 3402). 



LONG-TAILED OR BUFFON'S SKUA — 



Stercorarius parasiticus (Linn). 



A RARE visitant, having only been obtained in 



autumn in two known instances, both on the S. 



