272 LARID^E. 



Genus CATHARACTA Sriinnich, On. Bor. 1764, p. 32. 



Type : C. skua Brunn. 



Catfiaracta = KaTapf>dKTT)s, a sea-bird known to Greek classical writers from 

 its rushing down on its prey like a cataract. 



Catharacta skua. GREAT SKUA. 



Catharacta Skua Brunnich, On. Bor. 1764, p. 33 : Faeroe 

 Islands. 



Stercorarius catarrhactes (Linn.) B. O. IT. List, 1st ed. 1883, 

 p. 194 ; Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 687. 



Megalestris catarrhactes Saunders, Gat. Birds B. M. xxv. 1896, 

 p. 315. 



Skua, thus written by Hoier (circa 1604) as the name of a Faeroese bird 

 (hodie Skiiir), adopted by Willughby and Brunnich. 



Distribution in the .British Islands. A Resident in British 

 seas, breeding in the Shetlands, at Foula and Unst, and of 

 recent years on several other islands to the south, in increasing 

 numbers. In winter it frequents the fishing-grounds out at 

 sea and occasionally visits the Orkneys, the Outer Hebrides, 

 and the coasts of Great Britain, more especially the eastern 

 side. In Ireland it is rarely met with. 



General Distribution. The Great Skua breeds in Iceland 

 and the Faeroes and on Lady Franklin Island, Hudson Strait. 

 In winter it is met with chiefly at sea off the coasts of Europe, 

 from Norway south to Gibraltar, and occasionally in the 

 Mediterranean and on inland waters ; it occurs in the 

 western Atlantic off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and 

 occasionally south Greenland and Long Island, U.S.A. 

 It is represented by allied forms in the southern oceans. 



Genus STERCORARIUS frisson, Orn. vi. 1760, p. 149. 

 Type: S. parasiticus (Linn.). 

 Stercorarius=of, or belonging to, excrement, stercus. 



