SKI A. NATATORES. CATARACTES. 519 



brown, with a slight tinge of grey. Sides and nape of 

 the neck clothed with long subulated feathers of a glis- 

 tening sienna-yellow. Throat, forepart of the neck, 

 belly and abdomen, white. Breast having a collar or 

 gorget of greyish or broccoli brown spots. Flanks and 

 lower tail-coverts dashed with greyish-brown. The two 

 middle tail-feathers elongated, but preserving their 

 breadth throughout. Shafts of the quills and tail-fea- 

 thers white. Legs and toes black ; the hind toe very 

 short, and armed with a stout nail. 



The following description answers to one of the indivi- 

 duals examined by Mr WILLIAMSON, and agrees with 

 one in my possession; being the plumage of the first 

 year. 



Length twenty inches; breadth of the extended wings Young. 

 forty-six inches. Bill one inch and a half long, of a 

 bluish colour ; the upper mandible having the culmen 

 rounded, as far as the dertrum, which is bent down 

 like that of the Common Skua, and is black. A groove 

 from the top and bottom of the nostrils extends to the 

 base of the bill, making the cereous part of the upper 

 mandible appear as if in three longitudinal divisions. 

 The lower mandible has its tomia bending inwards, and 

 a longitudinal groove extends from the base for upwards 

 of half its length. Irides hazel. Legs and feet bluish- 

 black, with the claws black and much hooked. Head 

 and neck clove-brown, tinged with grey, and the fea- 

 thers very finely margined with pale brown. Upper 

 plumage deep clove-brown, with the tips of the feathers 

 yellowish-brown ; broadest on each side of the shaft, 

 and looking like two spots. Under plumage having the 

 basal part of the feathers white, the rest marbled with 

 yellowish-brown and clove-brown. Upper and under 

 tail-coverts transversely barred with pale clove-brown 

 and reddish- white. Shafts and basal part of the inner 



