422 STERCORARIIN^E. 



the sides, axillaries, flanks and the lesser under wing-coverts 

 next the body, and the whole of the exterior and longer tail- 

 coverts are deep brown ; the rest of the lower wing-coverts, 

 except just at the edge of the wing, are white, here and there 

 slightly mottled, especially at the edge of the wing with dusky 

 brown ; the longer axillaries are mottled white along their bases. 

 Within our limits the Persian Shearwater is found along the 

 Sind Coast and at the mouths of the Indus. 



FAMILY, Laridae. 



Bill straight, compressed ; wings long and pointed ; tail long ; 

 tarsi with transverse scutse in front ; hind -toe usually short. 



SUB-FAMILY, Stercorariinse. 



Base of bill covered with a cere, tip hooked ; first quill longest ; 

 nostrils median. 



GENUS, Stercorarius, Brisson. 



Keel of bill covered with a bony or membraneous cere ; first 

 quill longest. 



Stercorarius asiaticus, Hume. 



977 'ter. Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 314. 



THE SKUA. 



Length, 19 ; expanse, 45 ; wing, 13 ; tail, 6'4 ; tarsus, T8 ; 

 bill from gape, 2 '02. 



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

 feet dull black. 



I extract the following from Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of 

 Sind : 



" This is not uncommon off the Manora headland, and along 

 the Sind and Mekran Coasts. There is some difference of opinion 

 in regard to the identity of this bird. Mr. Hume, in Vol. I, 

 p. 268 (Stray Feathers) refers it to L. parasiticus, but in his 

 observations on the species states it may not improbably here- 

 after turn out that both his specimens and those of Major 

 Tickell's belong to a distinct species intermediate between poma- 

 rinus and parasiticus, in which case he says it may stand as 

 Stercorarius asiaticus, nobis. In Vol. V of the same journal 

 he points out the differences between L. parasiticus and his 

 Stercorarius asiaticus. 



The following is the description of the species obtained by him 

 at Pusnee on the Mekran Coast : 



" The central tail feathers are manifestly imperfectly developed, 

 one projects 075 and the other 0'25 beyond the rest of the tail ; 

 the bird is obviously in a state of change of plumage, as the two 

 first primaries in each wing are old, and comparatively pale brown 

 with conspicuous white shafts only tinged brownish for 

 about 0'5 immediately above the tips, while all the othe r 



