POMATORHINE SKUA. 701 



dead in October 1858 ; near Leeds and York it has also been 

 reported ; one was noted at Carperby in Wensleydale on 

 2nd September 1892 ; and after the storm of October 1879, 

 it was observed at Pocklington, Thirsk, Towton, and Newton 

 Kyme ; while on I2th September 1886, five were seen flying 

 over Deighton Manor, near Northallerton, about twenty-five 

 miles from the coast. 



In reference to the habits of this species, the late Alfred 

 Roberts observed (MS.), that, in October 1879, ne saw several 

 at Scarborough pursuing the smaller Buffon's Skuas, snipping 

 off their elongated tail feathers so as to impede their flight 

 in the scrample for food, and also acting in like manner to 

 members of their own species ; in many examples he examined 

 he noticed that, although in every other respect they were 

 in the full mature garb, the long obtuse projecting feathers 

 had been cut off. This defect was noticeable in some of the 

 specimens I examined, although all those which I have pre- 

 served possess perfect feathers. I was also much struck by 

 the peculiar appearance of the tail in flight ; when a bird was 

 taking a straight course the feathers were closed like a fan, 

 and had a strange and unnatural look when viewed from under- 

 neath, appearing like a cross, 1 , and seeming to 



be much longer than really was the case. In several instances 

 when a Skua was killed its companions came to the dead bird, 

 and, in their manoeuvres while swooping round, continually 

 opened and shut their tails, much in the same manner as 

 Terns do when fishing over a shoal of sprats. Another 

 peculiar feature in connection with the adult Skuas in the 1879 

 invasion, which has not previously been commented upon, 

 was that the webs of the feet were in many cases torn and 

 mutilated, more or less, as though they had been roughly cut 

 or torn asunder down the centre. Can it be possible that, 

 in the northern regions whence they came, their feet had 

 become frozen to the ice, and, in endeavouring to release 

 themselves, they had torn away the webs ? 



The piratical nature of the Skuas has earned for them 

 the unenviable notoriety they obtain amongst coast shooters. 

 Mr. M. Bailey records an instance of one which clung to a 



