458 STERCORARIIDAL 
MacGillivray, as shot by him in Barra, October 1895” 
(Harvie-Brown, ‘ Avifauna Of The Outer Hebrides,’ 1888- 
1902, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1903, p. 17). 
Around the Irish coasts this species is scarcer and more 
irregular in its visits. A remarkable migration, however, 
took place in October, 1862, of both Pomatorhine and 
Richardson’s Skuas, when successive flocks of the former 
were observed on the Mayo coast flying southward from 
Killala Bay in the direction of Galway Bay. As a recent 
occurrence on its passage northward, may be mentioned a 
specimen obtained on June 6th, 1906, at Loop Head, 
co. Clare. Barrington, ‘Irish Naturalist,’ 1906, p. 193). 
Storm-driven birds have been occasionally met with far 
inland. 
Flight.—On the wing this bird can be distinguished 
from its congeners by its peculiar tail. The middle feathers 
are elongated, but not finely attenuated as in other Skuas. 
Instead, they end in thick rounded plumes, which, for the 
greater part of their length, are twisted almost at a right 
angle, so that their surfaces look right and left instead of 
up and down like the short tail-feathers. On the whole, the 
tail is not elegant, the long feathers presenting the appear- 
ance of having been displaced and roughly handled. 
Votce.—The voice, usually heard when the breeding- 
haunts are intruded upon, is shrill and rather discordant. 
Food.—The fish which Terns and Gulls are forced to 
disgorge, when terrorised by their pursuer, forms a large 
percentage of the diet. Wounded birds are torn to pieces ; 
indeed, Mr. Ussher mentions that one of these Skuas was 
shot at Wexford in the act of killing a chicken. Small 
mammals, notably Lemmings, are eaten; Watters records 
a bird which, on dissection, contained the remains of 
a rat, fish-bones, and feathers. Furthermore, carrion, 
stranded or floating, does not come amiss to this bird’s 
diversified tastes. 
Nest.—The nest is simply a depression in the ground, 
amid moss, heather, and other vegetation. The eggs, two 
in number, are olive-brown in colour, with dark brown 
markings. 
Geographical distribution—The breeding-resorts are in 
Northern Europe, Asia, notably the Siberian Tundras, at 
the mouth of the Yenesei, and in Arctic America. The 
winter-range extends over the Huropean waters to the 
Mediterranean, and southward along the west coast of Africa, 
