348 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



in his collection which were killed by himself at 

 sea off Yarmouth, but no date is preserved ; there is 

 beside, according to Dr. Babington, a young bird from 

 the same locality, in the Newcome collection, also un- 

 dated. 



I have given, I think, a nearly complete list of the 

 recorded occurrences of this bird, some of them certainly 

 " Leadenhall " specimens, but likely enough to be cor- 

 rect, in order to show its rarity in comparison with the 

 next species. .No doubt it is occasionally seen out at 

 sea, but never in numbers like 8. pomatorhinus, more 

 than a pair together being rarely met with. 



Like all the skuas this species sometimes presents 

 an almost whole-coloured form of plumage, although, 

 apparently, much more rarely than two of the three 

 that follow. Mr. Dresser figures in his "Birds of 

 Europe" a remarkable instance of this form from the 

 specimen in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., 

 already mentioned as killed off Yarmouth, in October, 

 1869. " 



STERCORARIUS POMATORHINUS (Temminck). 

 POMATORHINE SKUA. 



Notwithstanding the remarkable influx on one par- 

 ticular occasion, presently to be mentioned, of a very large 

 number of individuals of this species, it cannot be con- 

 sidered otherwise than as an occasional autumn visitant, 

 young birds occurring most often. They are frequently 

 seen by the fishermen, far out at sea, following the 

 various species of gull which are attracted by the shoals 

 of herrings and sprats, but only under stress of weather 

 do they come inshore ; and as Mr. Stevenson points out, 

 " singularly enough, nearly all the storm-driven speci- 

 mens picked up far inland have been more or less in 

 adult plumage." It is possible they may pass our coast 

 every autumn on their southern migration in consider- 

 able numbers, but far to the eastward and quite out of 

 sight of land. 



