LARUS EBURNEUS,.—S'TERCORARIUS CATARRHACTES. 3845 
scanty soil. Here and there are a few ponds of thaw-waiter and swampy 
spots.” Mr. Frohawk gives a detailed description and the precise dimensions 
of each of the twelve eggs, all of which were addled as he found on blowing 
them, and three of them are figured on an uncoloured plate to face his account 
of them. Mr, Jackson also mentions the finding of this breeding-place ef 
Ivory Gulls in his narrative (tom. cit. pp. 354, 355).] 
[§ 4671. Zwo—Abel Island, King Karl’s Land, 3 August, 
1901. From Herr Johan Dircks. 
Herr Dircks wrote to me from Trondhjem (23 Sept., 1901} that he had taken 
these himself, the locality lying in 79° N. lat. and 30° 20’ E. long. How many 
egos and young birds he obtained Ido not know, but he said that no nest 
contained more than one ege. Therefore these two were from different nests. 
He afterwards informed me that there were about thirty or forty nests, all of 
very rude construction, the eggs being often found lying on the bare stones, 
encircled by pieces of moss or lichen, lying loose together with splinters of 
wood and some feathers, without any depression but just as the ground 
chanced to be, though sometimes there was a substratum of earth. No other 
species of birds bred in the same place, but on other parts of the island were 
Long-tailed Skuas, Arctic Teins, and Eider-Ducks. The nests were placed 
from two to three métres above the sea. ] 
STERCORARIUS CATARRHACTES (Linnzeus). 
THE SKUA. 
§ 4672. One.—Near Husevik, Northern Iceland, 1843. From 
Mr. Proctor, 1844. 
[This bears the Icelandic name “ Hdkalla Skim,’ 
native. | 
5 
evidently. written by a 
§ 4673. Oxe.—Unst, Shetland. From Mr. Tuke, 1846. 
Mr. Tuke says: ‘‘My correspondent is a schoolmaster in one of the 
northernmost of the Shetland Isles | Mr. James Smith, of Unst|, who 
takes eggs from the poor people to pay for their children’s schooling ; 
and, partly to encourage the school, as I heard it was likely to be 
given up (the parents not being able to pay any money), I sent for a 
lot of eggs. Among them were a few undoubted Great Skuas’, which 
he called so, and they were subsequently confirmed by my friend 
W. C. Hewitson. Indeed, there is but little resemblance to the 
Great Black-backed Gull [apparent] to anyone who has carefully 
compared the two. I hope to have another box of eggs from this 
