POMERINE SKUA. 487 



Less, however, is known of the summer-habits of tliis 

 species than of that bird which precedes it, or that Avhich is 

 to follow. It is found on the west coast of Norway, and at 

 the Faroe Islands. By our intrepid Arctic voyagers it was 

 observed on the coast of Greenland, and at Whale-fish Is- 

 land. During the dangerous passage to the northward, over 

 ice and water, by Sir Edward Parry and Captain James C. 

 Ross, one bird of this species flew past the boats in latitude 

 82°. N. The Pomerine Skua was also seen at Prince Re- 

 genfs Inlet, Melville Island, and at Igloolik. Captain 

 James C. Ross mentions, in his last Appendix, that a nest 

 with two eggs was found near Fury Point, on the margin of 

 a small lake. Dr. Richardson says " the Pomarine Gull- 

 hunter is not uncommon in the Arctic seas, and northern 

 outlets of Hudson's Bay, where it subsists on putrid flesh 

 and other animal substances thrown up by the sea, and also 

 on the matters which the Gulls disgorge when pursued by it. 

 It retires from the north in the winter, and makes its first 

 appearance at Hudson's Bay in May, coming in from sea- 

 ward. The Indians abhor it, considering it to be a com- 

 panion of the Esquimaux, and to partake of their evil quali- 

 ties." Mr. Audubon mentions having seen a few birds of 

 this species while on an ornithological cruise off the coast of 

 Labrador. The bird is said to form a rude nest of grass and 

 moss, which is placed on a tuft in marshes, or on a rock, and 

 to lay two or three eggs ; these, as figured by Naumann and 

 Buhle, are of a uniform pale green, the larger end blotched 

 and spotted with two shades of reddish-brown ; the length 

 two inches three lines, by one inch six lines and a half in 

 breadth. 



In the young bird, from which our figure is taken, the cere 

 and base of the bill are greenish-brown, the curved point 

 black ; the irides very dark brown ; feathers of the head and 

 neck clove-brown, with narrow margins of wood-brown ; back. 



