688 GU 



which arc slender and pointed, extend about three 

 inches more. These are the colours of the mature 

 bird. After the second month the whole plumage on 

 the upper part is brown ; the produced feathers on 

 the neck brownish yellow ; and those in the tail con- 

 siderably shorter than in the mature bird. In the 

 first plumage the head and nape are dull brown, with 

 lighter brown borders to the feathers ; there is a 

 black patch in front of the eyes ; the back, the scapu- 

 lars, and the wing-coverts are brown, bordered with 

 deep russet and striated dark lines ; the breast, the 

 belly, and the flanks are brownish ash, marked with 

 zig-zags of russet ; the vent, rump and tail-coverts are 

 marked with large bands of russet and dusky ; the 

 bill is greenish blue, with the point black ; the feet are 

 bluish ash, with black webs ; and the middle feathers 

 of the tail are not above half an inch longer than the 

 others. 



The proper home of this species is the seas of 

 North America ; but the fact of its being found in 

 Britain, however rurely, shows that it is a bird of 

 very powerful wing, and discursive in its habits. In 

 its general manners it resembles the common skua, 

 but it is a less powerful bird, and therefore does not 

 so readily attack the larger gulls. It is, however, a 

 bird of more light and elesrant form, and, if not more 

 rapid in short flight, at least capable of remaining 

 longer on the wing, and thus ranging farther seaward. 

 The smaller gulls and the terns seem to be the birds 

 which it principally attacks ; and there is no doubt 

 that the specimens which straggle to the European 

 shores overfly themselves in their pursuit of these, 

 and thus are unable to return to their native locali- 

 ties. This skua appears to stand in nearly the same 

 relation to the common skua as the more powerful 

 falcons stand in to the eagles ; and in its plumage, 

 and the form of -its body, though not in its bill and 

 its feet, it bears no inconsiderable resemblance to 

 those falcons. Nor is it unworthy of remark and 

 inquiry into the relations, that there should be a cor- 

 respondence between the different species of those 

 sea-birds which are unquestionably the most bold and 

 predacious in their wa}', and the most bold and pre- 

 dacious of the land birds. This is one point upon 

 which the analogy of the sea and the land might be 

 studied to very considerable advantage ; and the 

 result of such a study would be the discovery of how 

 far those two great divisions of the earth's surface 

 tell upon each other, through the medium of the air, 

 in so far as animal life is concerned. 



RICHARDSON'S SKUA (Z/. Richardsonii). This spe- 

 cies is, next to the common skua, the best known in 

 the British seas of all the genus, and, indeed, it is 

 found farther to the south than that one. As has 

 been the case with many of our sea-birds, there have 

 been very considerable mistakes and blunders con- 

 cerning this one. It is the arctic gull of many de- 

 scribers, and the arctic skua of some who approximate 

 to a little more accuracy, but still it is not, in reality, 

 either the one or the other. It resembles the com- 

 mon gulls more than either of the former species, 

 having the plumage less decided, and altogether less 

 of a hawk-like appearance. The head is blackish 

 brown, with the dark colour extending on the check 

 a little below the eyes ; the general colour of the 

 upper part is brown, not so deep as in the larger 

 skuas, and with a trace of ash-colour in it ; the sides 

 of the neck are buft'; the throat, and all the under 

 part, white, but gradually passing into greyish ash- 



LL. 1 



colour toward the vent-feather* ; the bill is bluish 

 ash, with the cere whitish, and the feet are the same 

 colour as the bill ; the webs are much larger than in 

 the two former species, and the whole character of 

 the bird is more that of a swimmer ; the wings are 

 very long, and the two middle feathers of the tail are 

 still farther produced than in the pomarine skua ; 

 the entire length of the bird, tail and all, is one foot 

 nine inches, but the nine inches are occupied by the ' 

 tail, and three of these by the produced feathers in 

 the middle. The young of these birds are of a brown 

 colour, and have the tail-feathevs much shorter than 

 the mature ones. As has been said, they are not 

 rare on the northern shores of Britain, and they 

 extend as far to the southward as those of Yorkshire. 

 They come to the British shores in April or May, 

 along with the terns and the smaller gulls, upon which 

 chiefly they levy their contributions. They are un- 

 derstood to pair for life ; and they breed in this 

 country, taking their departure in August or Septem- 

 ber, when the other sea-birds break up tlieir summer 

 encampments. They are not so exclusively sea-birds 

 as the common skuas, but occasionally range inland, 

 feeding upon worms, molluscous animals, and other 

 small productions of the land. On the shores, how- 

 ever, they are very much given to plundering the 

 smaller gulls, which they do with as much vigour and 

 success as their more powerful congeners plunder 

 the large ones. They are very plentiful in the 

 western islands, where they make their nests in bogs 

 and marshes, concealing them in tufts of herbage. 

 The eggs are described as being only two in number, 

 ash-coloured in the ground, and mottled with black. 

 Altogether, these are very interesting birds, not only 

 as they are the most abundant British species, but as 

 they combine, to a certain extent, the appearances 

 and the habits both of the skuas and the gulls. 



ARCTIC SKUA (L. parasiticus). This is the species 

 with which the preceding one has been confounded, 

 and the description of the one has been so blended 

 with that of the other, as to occasion no little con- 

 fusion. This one does breed occasionally in some of 

 the remoter parts of the British islands, but it is rare 

 compared with the former. It is by much the lightest 

 and most handsome bird of the whole genus, and is 

 at the same time the smallest. Its length is about the 

 same as the last, but the tail is in this one twelve 

 inches in length, leaving only nine for the body, and 

 the bird is not above one-third of the weight. The 

 head is furnished with a cap of dark blackish brown, 

 which does not reach below the eyes ; the general 

 colour on the upper part is clear brownish ash, the 

 quills and tail-feathers being darker ; all the under 

 parts, together with the region of the eyes, the neck, 

 and the breast, are white, but waved with ash-colour 

 on the flanks ; the two produced feathers of the tail 

 are sometimes five or six inches longer than the rest, 

 and they are remarkably slender and pointed, which 

 gives the tail a very peculiar appearance. This 

 lengthening of the tail-feathers gives the birds some- 

 thing the appearance of terns when they are on the 

 wing ; and, as the wings themselves are very much 

 pointed, as well as very long, they can sport about in 

 the air with all the activity and evolutions of the 

 swallow tribe. They are indeed the swiftest fliers in 

 all the genus, and their rapidity of motion makes up 

 in some measure for their interior strength. They 

 never venture to attack the larger gulls, but they are 

 very vigilant in levying their imposts on the smaller 



