518 NATATORES. CATARACTES. SKUA. 



bold, striking them with great force and power, and pursu- 

 ing them to a great distance ; the Gulls making a loud and 

 screaming noise every time they were struck at. I got an 

 Arctic Gull (Skua) in company with them, but saw no 

 more ; nor have any of the Skua Gulls been seen or heard 

 this year." All these specimens appear to have been birds 

 of the first year, the description of their plumage answering 

 to that age as given in TEMMINCK'S " Manuel d'Ornitho- 

 logie ;" nor have I yet learned that an adult bird has been 

 killed in Britain. In Europe, the present species is found 

 upon the coasts of Sweden and Norway, where it breeds, 

 but has not hitherto been met with in Shetland (the resort 

 of the other species), or any of the northern Scottish Islands. 

 According to Dr RICHARDSON, it is common in North Ame- 

 rica, inhabiting the northern outlets of Hudson^s Bay and 

 Food, other Arctic seas, where it subsists upon fish, and other ani- 

 mal substances cast on shore, as well as on the disgorge- 

 ments of the Gulls, when pursued and attacked by it. He 

 adds, " that it retires from the north in the winter, and 

 makes its first appearance at Hudson's Bay in May, coming 

 in from seaward." It breeds in situations similar to those 

 selected by the Common and Arctic Skuas, constructing its 

 Nest, &c. nest of moss, dried grass, &c. TEMMINCK mentions the 

 eggs as two or three in number, of a yellowish-grey colour, 

 thinly spotted with blackish-brown. This species is readily 

 distinguished at all ages from the Arctic Skua by its supe- 

 rior size, by the greater length of its wings, and the rounded 

 ends of the two projecting tail-feathers ; as well as by other 

 distinctive tokens in colour and disposition of plumage. 



PLATE 101. represents the matured bird, from a specimen in 



the collection of Sir WILLIAM JARDINE, Baronet. 



General Bill, from the forehead to the tip, one inch and three- 



t i on . eighths long ; the soft corneous part greenish-grey, the 



Adult bird. tip black. Irides dark- brown. Face, crown of the head, 



occiput, back, scapulars, wings, and tail, deep blackish- 



