330 STEBCOKARIIDJE. 



brown and rufescent white ; lower parts white, with brown, rather 

 irregular crossbars on sides of neck, fore neck, breast, flanks, and 

 lower tail-coverts. 



Bill brown ; cere pale greenish brown ; irides brown ; legs and 

 feet dull black (Hume). 



Length about 20 ; tail without middle pair of feathers 5, the 

 middle feathers 1 to 3 inches longer; wing 13 ; tarsus 1'75 ; bill 

 from gape 2. 



Distribution. This Skua breeds in Arctic and Subarctic regions, 

 down to lat. 55, and is found in winter in many parts of the world, 

 ranging as far south as New Zealand, tbe Cape of Good Hope, and 

 Bio Janeiro. It is by no means rare at that season on the Makran 

 and Sind coasts, and some were seen by Captain Butler as late 

 in the year as June. There can, I think, be no doubt that Mr. 

 Howard Saunders was right in identifying S. asiaticus with 

 Richardson's Skua. 



1519. Stercorarius pomatorhinns. The PomatorTiine Slcua. 



Lestris pomarhinus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 514 (1815) ; Jerdon, 



B. I. iii, p. 8'28. 



Catarracta pomarina, Blyih, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 416. 

 Lestris pomatorhinus, Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 163. 

 Stercorarius pomatorhinus, Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 4ftO ; Hume, 



Cat. no. 977 bis; Oates, B. L. ii, p. 413; Saunders, Cat. B. M. 



xxv, p. 322. 



This is a larger species than S. crepidatus, but similar in 

 plumage, except that the cap is blackish and without any whitish 

 frontal margin, and that the throat and collar are more strongly 

 tinged with glossy brownish yellow ; there is some white barring 

 on the hind neck behind the collar, and the lower fore neck, upper 

 breast, and lower abdomen are dark brown, more or less barred 

 and mottled with white. The middle tail-feathers, too, are blunt 

 and rounded at the end, not pointed. Dark forms also occur, as 

 in S. crepidatus. 



Bill horn-brown, bluish on the cere ; irides brown ; legs and 

 feet black. 



Length 21 ; tail 5-25, the middle tail-feathers 2 to 4 inches 

 longer ; wing 14 ; tarsus 2-2 ; bill from gape 2. 



Distribution. The Pomatorhine Skua breeds north of the Arctic 

 circle, but ranges widely in winter, and has been shot in Australia, 

 South Africa, and South America. A single specimen was once 

 obtained by Col. Tickell at Moulmein. 



A single specimen of the Antarctic Skua, Stercorarius (or 

 Megalestris) antarcticus, was brought alive to Major Legge at 

 Colombo, in Ceylon, but under circumstances which made it 

 doubtful whether it had been captured in the island (Birds Ceyl. 

 p. 1050, footnote). This Skua is a large bird, with a wing of about 

 16 inches, dark brown above and paler brown be]ow, inhabiting 

 the Southern Ocean. 



