GEEAT SKUA. 347 



cataractes " as if extremely rare," and mentions that Mr. 

 Norman, of Docking, had a specimen killed in that neigh- 

 bourhood ; Sheppard and Whitear do not include this 

 species in their catalogue ; Messrs. Paget merely refer to 

 the four examples already mentioned, while Mr. Lubbock 

 has no information with regard to this bird in par- 

 ticular ; Hoy, in the " Magazine of Natural History," 

 for 1837 (N. s., i., p. 117), records one on the coast near 

 Yarmouth, in October, 1836. In the MS. notes in the 

 Dennis copy of Yarrell, " Yarmouth, October 6th, 1849," 

 is given as a date for the occurrence of this species (cf. 

 Dr. Babington's " Birds of Suffolk.") Mr. Stevenson has 

 notes of a pair at Yarmouth, about the 15th September, 

 and one in the same locality, on the 2nd November, 1854 ; 

 Sayer, of Norwich, had two young and three old birds, 

 all from Yarmouth, on the 12th October, 1855. In the 

 unusually mild season of 1857, two females and one fine 

 male were shot on the 12th October, twelve miles off 

 Yarmouth ; Mr. Gould, in his " Birds of Great Britain," 

 says, " On the 19th October, 1857, I saw in Leadenhall 

 Market five great skuas, seven pomatorhine skuas 

 (one adult and six young of the year), and one young 

 arctic (Richardson's) skua, all of which were from 

 Yarmouth, and it was believed had been killed near 

 the lightship after a gale ; " on the 21st September, 

 ] 858, I find from Mr. Stevenson's notes that four were 

 obtained from Yarmouth ; and on the 1st October two 

 others from the same place. In the collection at Kes- 

 wick is a beautiful dark female, said to have been killed 

 at Yarmouth in the month of October, 1869, and pur- 

 chased by the late Mr. John Gatcombe, in Leadenhall 

 Market ; and in October, 1870, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., 

 saw another in the same market, also said to have been 

 sent from Yarmouth; on the 15th July, 1872, a most 

 unusually early date, Mr. Howard Saunders saw a great 

 skua close inshore, at Cromer (" Zoologist," s. s., 3226) ; 

 Mr. Stevenson records one, on the authority of Mr. 

 George Smith, of Yarmouth, as having been shot off 

 that town on the 3rd October, 1881 ; and in September, 

 1887, according to Mr. Pycraft, one of these birds was 

 shot on Breydon. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., tells me that 

 Mr. Thomas Berney, of Braconash, has two great skuas 

 2 v2 



