POMARINE SKUA. 351 



to be never more than two, but on the Yalmal peninsula Finsch never 

 found more than one nestling Avith the parents. The eggs vary in ground- 

 colour from dark russet-olive to pale olive ; the surface-spots are often 

 blurred, generally most abundant round the large end, where they are 

 sometimes confluent, and are very irregular in shape, varying in size from 

 that of a large pea downwards, and are of a dull reddish brown in colour; 

 the underlying spots are dull greyish brown. They vary in length from 

 2'4 to 2*25 inch, and in breadth from 1*7 to 1-6 inch. They are indistin- 

 guishable from certain varieties of the eggs of Richardson^s Skua and 

 the Common Gull. 



The Pomarine Skua, like Buffon^s and Richardson^s Skuas, is a more 

 gregai'ious bird, especially in winter, than the Great Skua. Booth, in 

 his ' Rough Notes,^ gives some very interesting particulars of the large 

 flocks, numbering hundreds and even thousands, of Pomarine Skuas which 

 linger at a distance of forty or fifty miles from the coast of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk during their migration southwards. In October and November 

 they may be seen together with large flocks of Gulls, Gannets, and Divers, 

 the great attraction being the fish rejected by the herring-fishers when 

 hauling in their nets and cleaning and sorting the fish. Even on these 

 occasions they cannot be satisfied with their own share of the plunder, but 

 must needs rob the smaller Gulls. In stormy weather great numbers are 

 driven ashore in an almost helpless and half-starved condition; but they 

 generally meet with a very inhospitable reception from the Hooded Crows, 

 who, though for the most part aliens from Scandinavia, are evidently of 

 opinion that they have a vested interest in the flotsam and jetsam of the 

 British shores. 



Mr. Nelson has sent me a detailed account of the extraordinary number 

 of Pomarine Skuas which visited the Yorkshire coast in the autumn of 

 1879. Flocks began to arrive at Redcar on the 6th of October, and 

 hundreds flew past betAveen that date and the 14th, when a heavy storm 

 came on, which brought the Skuas to the coast in thousands. They were 

 remarkably tame, and great numbers were shot [' Zoologist,^ 1880, p. 18) . 

 Mr. Lloyd Patterson informs me that this unusual migration of Pomarine 

 Skuas extended to the north of -Ireland, many birds being seen and several 

 shot between the 13th and 22nd of October in that year. 



The Pomarine Skua is intermediate in size between the Great Skua and 

 Richardson's Skua, the Aviug varying in length from 13^ to 14 inches. The 

 tarsus measures about 2 inches, and is longer than the middle toe and claw. 

 Its smaller size and shorter foot will always distinguish it from the Great 

 Skua, whilst its broad and rounded (and in adults twisted) central tail- 

 feathers prevent its being confused with Bufl'on's or Richardson's Skuas, 

 in which the central tail-feathers are narrow and pointed. 



There is no difference in colour or size between the sexes of the Poma- 



