358 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



of one of these birds contained a beetle. On the 12th, 

 after a succession of severe gales from the north-west, 

 another was procured far inland, at Beechamwell, near 

 Swafifham ; on the 30th October, 1869, a Buffon's skua 

 was sent to Norwich to be preserved, from Clej-next- 

 the-Sea. In the remarkable irruption of skuas which 

 occurred in the autumn of 1879, several very beautiful 

 adult examples of Buffon's skua were shot on different 

 parts of our coast, one of which, in fine plumage, taken 

 at Yarmouth, was in Mr. Stevenson's collection (No. 146 

 of his sale catalogue). Mr. Stevenson enumerates the 

 following in his paper before so largely quoted — '' Mr. 

 Cole had one on the 20th of October, picked up ex- 

 hausted but not dead on the beach at Hasborough, in 

 fine plumage, very yellow on the sides of the neck, but 

 the long middle tail-feathers unfortunately injured at 

 the tips, being scarcely more than 3^ inches longer 

 than the rest of the tail. About the same time as 

 the last Mr. T. W. Cremer obtained an adult bird, 

 which, as he informs me, was knocked over with a 

 stone by a boy on Beeston common, near Cromer. 

 It was in company with another in similar plumage : 

 the central tail-feathers projected 6^ and 6\ inches. 

 Mr. Dack had also an adult and an immature example 

 from Blakeney. The latter (which I presume to be of 

 this species), now in my collection, is an extremely grey- 

 coloured bird, the margins to the feathers of the back, 

 wings, and upper tail-coverts being almost white ; the 

 under parts mottled more or less with grey and white, 

 showing scarcely any tinge of brown. The two middle 

 tail-feathers project scarcely half an inch ; " this was 

 No. 196 of Mr. Stevenson's catalogue. Mr. Lowne tells 

 me he had two Buffon's skuas, which were killed on 

 the 24th of October, 1879, and that he knew of another 

 obtained about the same time. In 1881 several skuas 

 were procured off Yarmouth about the 21st of October, 

 among them two adult and one immature Buffon's 

 skuas. One of these. No. 223, in the sale catalogue of 

 Mr. Stevenson's collection, was a fine adult male, but, 

 unfortunately, minus the centre feathers of the tail. 



The following further extract from Mr. Stevenson's 

 paper may be useful in assisting to determine the species 



