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038 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
STERCORARIUS POMARINUS. — Temminck. 
The Pomarine Skua, 
Lestris pomarinus, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 315. Aud. Birds Am., VII. (1844) 
186. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Adult. —Front, crown of the head, back, wings, and tail, blackish-brown; sides 
and back part of the neck bright-yellow; throat and entire under plumage white, 
with a band of brown spots extending across the upper part of the breast; sides 
and lower tail coverts barred with brown; shafts of quills and tail feathers white; 
bill greenish-olive, black at the tip; legs and feet black; the middle tail feathers 
extend beyond the others for about two inches; they are rounded at the end, and of 
a uniform breadth throughout. 
Young birds have the plumage of the upper parts blackish-brown; of the lower, 
grayish-brown, with the feathers of the abdomen and lower tail coverts margined 
with dull-ferruginous; tarsi and base of the toes and webs yellow. 
Length, twenty inches; wing, fourteen; tail, eight to nine; bill, one and three 
quarters; tarsus, two inches. 
HIS species is not uncommon on our north-east coast in 
the autumn and winter months. “ It subsists on putrid 
and other animal substances thrown up by the sea, and 
also on fish and other matters which the Gulls disgorge 
when pursued by it. It also devours the eggs of sea-birds.” 
It breeds in the Hudson’s Bay country and other northern 
localities ; nesting “‘in elevated spots in the marshes, or 
upon rocks; making a coarsely interlaced nest of the sur- 
rounding moss and herbage; laying two or three very 
pointed eggs, of a grayish-olive, marked with a small num- 
ber of blackish spots.’”” — NUTTALL. 
STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS, — Temminck. 
The Arctic Skua. 
Larus parasiticus, Linneus. Syst. Nat., I. (1756) 226. 
Stercorarius parasiticus, Temminck. Man. d’Orn., II. (1820) 796. 
Lestris Richardsonii, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 319. Aud. Birds Am., VII. 
(1844) 190. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Adult. —Upper part of the head blackish-brown; nape and sides of the neck 
yellowish - white; remainder of upper plumage blackish-brown; wings and tail 
darker; shafts of the primaries white; under plumage white; bill bluish at the base, 
black at the point; tarsi and feet black; the central tail feathers extend beyond the 
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