172 



SIBERIA IN EUROPE. 



CHAP. XIV. 



skua.* The former were sittiDg amidst several Siberian 

 herring-gulls, but their superior size allowed us to identify 

 them at a glance. The Arctic tern was breeding on this 

 island ; ruffs, phalaropes, and Temminck's stint abounded 

 upon it. On one part, covered with dwarf willows, inter- 

 spersed with taller trees, to my astonishment I heard the 

 warble of the Siberian chiff-chaff, two specimens of which 



gull, rarely, if ever, ranging north of 

 the Arctic circle. It nests in various 

 parts of the British Islands, Northern 

 Europe, Japan, the great lakes of North 

 America, Labrador, and Greenland. 

 In winter it is found as far south as 

 the Mediterranean, and has been re- 

 corded from Florida. Although we 

 identified several individuals in com- 

 pany with small parties of the Siberian 

 herring-gull — their superior size being 

 evident at a glance — we did not succeed 

 in obtaining any examples, nor did we 

 meet with their eggs or young. 



* The Buffon's skua (Stercorarius 

 nitidis, Linn.) is a circumpolar bird, 

 beins: found upon the moorland districts 

 beyond the limit of forest growth of 

 Europe, Asia, and America. It winters 

 on the sea-coasts of Europe, and in 

 about the same latitudes in Asia and 

 America. In the British Islands it must 

 be considered as a somewhat rare winter 

 visitant, though it has been said to 

 breed in Scotland. On several occasions 

 we observed the peculiar kestrel- or 

 tern-like hover of 1 he Billion's skua, and 

 also saw these birds pkk up from the 

 ground, or seize upon the wing, dunlins 

 and stints, in the one case acting like a 

 hen-harrier, in the other seizing their 



prey like a falcon. We had cause, also, 

 to suspect their depredations amongst 

 the eggs ; and grey plovers and other 

 birds often joined in driving them away 

 from their domains. Sometimes in the 

 evenings or mornings we saw long 

 straggling flocks of these skuas passing 

 over the island of Alexievka, and cross- 

 ing and recrossing the branch of the 

 Petchora which separates that island 

 from the mainland. We found them 

 common all over the tundra as far 

 north-east as we penetrated. In the 

 specimens of the two species which we 

 obtained we found a marked difference 

 in the coloration of the legs and toes, 

 those of the Richardson's skua being 

 uniform dark brown, while those of 

 Buffon's skua were blotched with 

 bluish-grey. In one specimen of the 

 latter there is a single feather of the 

 under-tail coverts white with dark 

 brown bars ; in all the other specimens 

 procured the under-tail coverts are of 

 a uniform smoky brown. This single 

 feather is doubtless a last trace of im- 

 maturity. We saw many specimens 

 of the Pomatorhine skua outside the 

 aierskai banks on our journey home 

 by sea, but saw nothing of this species 

 during our stay in Kussia. 



