The Distribution of Birds in Great Britain. 465 



to Cumberland. I cannot find any recent authority, except Yarrell, for 

 its breeding in the marshes at the mouth of the Thames. 



STERCORARIUS CATARRHACTES (G. R. Gray}. Great Skua. 



Province XVIII. 

 Subprovince 38. 

 Lat. 60-62. " Scottish" type, or northern. Not in Ireland. 



Only in the Shetland Isles, where the nest has long been known ; 

 and here the bird extends to the island of Unst, which lies a little 

 beyond latitude 61. 



STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS (G. R. Gray}. Arctic Skua. 



Provinces [XVI.] XVII. XVIII. 



Subprovinces (33), 35-38. 



Lat. 57-61. " Scottish " type, or northern. 



Pennant formerly found the Arctic Skua breeding in the Islands of 

 Islay, Jura, and Rum ; and it is probable that a few pairs may still 

 linger in some of the numerous islands of this district, though Mr. H. D. 

 Graham tells me that the bird is quite extinct in Jura. In Thompson's 

 'Birds of Ireland' (vol. iii. p. 390) mention is made of a pair which 

 were shot in 1837 in the Isle of Rum, where it is likely they had a 

 nest. 



The bird still breeds in Sutherland and Caithness, and in all three 

 groups of the Scottish Isles. 



STERCORARIUS CEPPHUS (G. R. Gray}. Long-tailed Skua. 



Provinces XVII. XVIII. 



Subprovinces 35, 36, 37. 



Lat. 57-61. " Scottish " type. Not in Ireland. 



Respecting a former breeding-station in Caithness, Mr. R. J. 

 Shearer, of Ulbster House, Wick, has favoured me with the following 

 particulars : " Seven or eight years ago a few pairs of the Long-tailed 

 Skua were always to be found breeding on the same ground with the 

 commoner species. This was on a large inland flat, studded with small 

 dark lochs. Besides the two Skuas the Lesser Black-backed Gull, the 

 Common Gull, and the Curlew used to breed on the same spot. In 1860, 

 a pair of Long-tailed Skuas were shot on this ground during the breeding- 

 season ; and when Dr. Sinclair, in 1840, published a list of the Birds of 

 Caithness, he had found only the Long-tailed Skua, which at that time 

 seemed to be the most numerous and easily obtained on this breeding- 

 ground." 



On revisiting this spot in 1861, Mr. Shearer found that nearly all the 

 Skuas had been destroyed by a gamekeeper, who made a point of shooting 

 every bird that attempted to breed on the moor. It may be added that 



2 H 



