702 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



wounded Kittiwake until it fell a victim to its own rapacity ; 

 and an adult melanic example I obtained on I4th October 

 1879, disgorged a perfectly fresh Grey Plover. When one of 

 these Skuas is wounded it fights with claws and bill like a 

 Hawk or Owl, and sportsmen have been severely scratched 

 when handling a bird with ungloved hands. 



The dark form of Richardson's Skua is almcst as plentiful 

 as the light-breasted, but this variety had not been met with in 

 the Pomatorhine until 1879, the first recorded examples being 

 two which I obtained at Redcar on i4th and I5th October ; 

 both these birds are of a very dark shade of brown, almost 

 black, with the bills, legs, and perfect obtuse feathers in the 

 tails, as in the adults ; one of these specimens is in the collec- 

 tion of Mr. E. B. Emerson of Tollesby Hall, and the other is 

 in my own possession (Zool. 1880, pp. 18, 511 ; and Field, 

 ist November to 2Oth December 1879, an d *7th January 

 1880). A third melanic example was noted at Redcar on 4th 

 October 1884 (Zool. 1884, p. 469), while another Yorkshire 

 variety was recorded from Filey in 1887, having white 

 shoulders, and a few white feathers in the wing coverts ; it is 

 now in the collection of Mr. J. Whitaker 



The Redcar Skuas in 1879 exhibited great variation of 

 plumage ; I examined upwards of fifty specimens, finding 

 every gradation of colour, from the ordinary immature 

 example to the fully adult, in both the light and dark forms. 



The vernacular names are not differentiated from those of 

 S. crepidatus except by the prefix " big " or " great." 



RICHARDSON'S SKUA. 



Stercorarius crepidatus (Gmelin). 



Bird of passage on the coast, fairly numerous in most seasons. 

 Has been occasionally taken inland. 



The earliest local allusion to this bird was made by Montagu, 

 before 1802, when he stated that " It has been met with as far 

 south as Yorkshire " (" Orn. Diet." 1802). 



