612 LARID^. 



THREE distinct species of the genus Lestris have been 

 frequently brought together under the name of the Arctic 

 Gull, the Larus parasiticus of Linnaeus, briefly described in 

 his FAUNA SUECICA ; and the measurements of this species, 

 as given by M. Nilsson, the Swedish Professor of Natural 

 History at Lund, in his ORNITHOLOGIA SUECICA, vol. ii. p. 

 182, appear to prove that the true parasiticus of Linnaeus 

 is the same species as that to which Mr. Swainson, in the 

 FAUNA BOREALI AMERICANA, has attached the name of the 

 distinguished naturalist and companion of Sir John Frank- 

 lin. As all the five species of the genus Lestris, found in 

 Europe, are visiters to the Arctic Regions, and all are alike 

 parasitic in their habits, ornithologists are indebted to Mr. 

 Swainson for thus worthily superseding terms, which, from 

 the advancement in natural history, have ceased to convey 

 specific distinctions. 



Of the species of this genus which visit this country, Dr. 

 Richardson's Skua is the most numerous. Pennant, in his 

 time, found it breeding at the islands of Juray, Hay, and 

 Rum, in the Hebrides ; and in his British Zoology gives 

 figures of it in three different states of plumage. Mr. J. 

 Macgillivray, who visited the Outer Hebrides in the sum- 

 mer of 1840, says, " Richardson's Skua breeds in several 

 spots in the interior of North Uist, and a few stragglers 

 might now and then be observed upon the coasts, chasing 

 the Terns and smaller Gulls. 11 



In the Orkneys this species has been observed on almost 

 every island, but the principal breeding-places are in Hoy 

 and the Holm of Eddy, or Eday, as mentioned by Mr. 

 Salmon and Mr. Dunn. In some instances these birds fre- 

 quent the tops of the highest hills ; in others they appear 

 to prefer those unfrequented heaths which are low and 

 marshy, but making their nest of dry grass and mosses 

 upon some slight but dry eminence. Mr. Salmon says, 



