Family STERCORARIIDAL. 
GREAT SKUA. WMegalestris catarrhactes (Linneus). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. v, pl. 
78; Dresser, ‘ Birds of Europe,’ vol. viii, pl. 609 ; Lilford, 
‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. vi, pl. 31. 
This powerful sea-bird is at all times a scarce autumn 
and winter visitant to the British coast, and as it generally 
keeps out to sea, it appears all the more rare. It is, how- 
ever, not infrequent on the north coast of Scotland, which 
is not far from its breeding-haunts on the Shetlands, where 
it 1s protected. On the contrary, it has been persecuted in 
the Faroes, rewards having been offered for its head. Asa 
consequence it is now rare in these Islands. The Great Skua 
was first recorded in the Outer Hebrides by the late Mr. 
Buckley, who, on January 8th, 1894, saw a specimen which 
had been shot in North Harris. ‘‘ Another 1s recorded by 
Dr. M‘Rury on the authority of Miss Edgar, daughter of the 
hightkeeper at Barra Head, in the summer of 1893” 
(Harvie-Brown, ‘ Avifauna Of The Outer Hebrides,’ 1888- 
1902; Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1903, p. 17). 
It is very seldom met with inland. 
About eleven specimens have been obtained in Ireland, 
the counties and dates of capture being as follows :— 
Dublin :—One, Dublin Bay, early in July, 1833 (Thomp- 
son, Nat. Hist. Irel., vol. 11, p. 390) ; another, Portmarnock, 
November, 1836 (¢bed.); a third, taken alive in Dublin Bay 
(Watters, ‘ Birds of Ireland,’ p. 263); a fourth, Clontarf, 
October Ist, 1880, received by Messrs. Williams and Son; 
now preserved in the Dublin Museum. 
Down :—T wo, Belfast Lough, August, 1848; one, Holy- 
wood, September 18th, 1848 (Thompson). 
Galway :—One, 1835 (Thompson), now preserved in the 
Trinity College Museum. 
Cork:—One, Bantry Bay, winter, 1845-1846 (Thompson). 
