496 LARID.E. 



Lestris pomerina in its manners."" The egg, as figured by 

 Thicnemann, is of a pale green colour, spotted with ash-grey 

 and dark reddish-brown ; the measurements arc two inches 

 in length, by one inch and five lines in breadth. 



In the adult bird the base of the bill, including the cere, 

 is dark greenish-brown, the horny, curved point black ; irides 

 brown ; all the upper part of the head black ; sides and back 

 of the neck white, tinged with straw yellow ; back, tertials, 

 wing, and tail-coverts brownish-grey ; primaries and tail- 

 feathers almost black ; chin, throat, and upper part of belly 

 Avhite ; lower part of the belly, the vent, and under tail-coverts 

 light brownish-grey; legs, toes, and their membranes black ; the 

 tarsi still bearing some traces of their previous yellow colour. 



The whole length of the specimen, described from the 

 point of the beak to the end of the tail-feather next the 

 central pair, thirteen inches and a half, the central feathers 

 extending nine inches beyond ; the wing, from the anterior 

 bend to the end of the longest quill-feather, twelve inches ; 

 the tarsus one inch and a half; the middle toe and the claw 

 rather shorter, or one inch and three eighths. 



Independently of the difference in measurements, adult 

 birds of this species, compared with old ones of the species 

 previously described, have the head always much darker in 

 colour, while the back is lighter. 



The fifth European species of Leslt^is which I have referred 

 to, is that noticed by Dr. Richardson in his Fauna Boreali- 

 Americana, page 432, under the name Stercorarins cepp/nis 

 of Leach. Two examples from Hecla Bay and Spitzbergen 

 are in the collection at the British Museum, and I possess 

 one broudit home from the Greenland seas. It has not been 

 taken in England, that I am aware of; but, though closely 

 resembling Richardson^s Skua in size and colour of plumage, 

 is at once to be distinguished by the great comparative 

 breadth of the bill at its base. 



