THE SKUAS 



2287 



THE SKUAS 

 Family STERCORAR1ID& 



Closely allied to the gulls, the skuas are considered by Mr. Saunders to form a 

 family by themselves, although many ornithologists are not disposed to admit the 

 necessity for such separation. As a family these birds are characterized by the 

 following features: The beak has a cere at the base, and the tip of the upper 

 mandible hooked; the breastbone has but a single notch on each side; the blind 

 appendages (cceca) of the intestine are larger than in the preceding family; and 



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POMATORHINE SKUA. 



the completely webbed toes are furnished with strong, sharp, hooked claws. 

 Represented by six species, the skuas are all included in a single genus; and while 

 four of them breed only in the colder regions of the Northern Hemisphere, there are 

 two southern species, one of which (Stercorarius chilensis) is found on the western 

 coast of South America as far as the straits of Magellan, and thence northward to 

 Rio de Janeiro, the other ranging from Tierra del Fuego to the Cape, New Zealand, 

 and the Indian Ocean. In the last edition of YarrelV s Birds it is stated that 

 ' ' the skuas may be considered as forming a conspicuous portion of the predaceous 

 division among the swimming birds, as indicated by their powerful and hooked 

 beak and claws. Their food is fish, but they devour also the smaller water birds 

 and their eggs, the flesh of whales, as well as other carrion, and are observed to 



