LONG-TAILED SKUA. 681 



and he considers it probable that they were breeding there. 

 In the autumn stragglers occur on the coasts and islands of 

 Scotland, but not in any -numbers. On the east side of 

 England it appears at irregular intervals, especially between 

 the mouth of the Tees and Flamborough Head ; and during 

 the storms of the autumn of 1879, already noticed, a con- 

 siderable number were obtained, some of them adults. 

 Southwards its visits become rarer, and Mr. Cecil Smith can 

 only cite two instances in Somersetshire ; Mr. Gatcombe 

 records an adult obtained at Plymouth some years ago*; 

 and the late Mr. Rodd was only aware of two examples being 

 met with in Cornwall, during his long experience, until 1877, 

 when an adult bird, shot near the Lizard, was sent to Mr. 

 Vingoe for preservation on the 4th of June an unusually 

 late date (Zool. 1877, p. 300). The western side of England 

 appears to be seldom visited : in Lancashire, as Mr. F. S. 

 Mitchell informs the Editor, three were shot on Grange 

 sands the day the ' Royal Charter ' was lost, and one at 

 Ribble in March 1877. Occasionally it has been shot in 

 several inland counties. 



In Ireland both adults and immature specimens have 

 been obtained on the autumn, and more rarely on the spring 

 migrations, in the counties of Donegal, Antrim, Dublin, 

 Waterford, and Mayo ; in the latter a nearly adult example 

 was shot on a grouse-mountain as it rose from the carcase of a 

 dead horse on which it had been feeding (Zool. 1877, p. 331). 



The Long-tailed Skua is only a visitor to the Faeroes, 

 where it was unusually numerous in the autumn of 1873 ; 

 and it has not been proved to breed in Iceland, although 

 killed there as late as the 10th of June. A few pairs nest 

 on the Dovrefjeld, in 62J N. lat., and Wolley, Wheelwright 

 and others found it breeding in considerable numbers far in- 

 land on the fells of Swedish Lapland. It has been observed 

 at Spitsbergen, and, on his boat voyage, Parry remarked it 

 up to 82 N. lat. ; Capt. A. H. Markham,R.N., found it breed- 



* Mr. Gratcorabe informs the Editor that Mr. Gould's statement, purporting to 

 be given on his authority (B. Grt. Brit, v.), as to the frequent occurrence of 

 immature birds near Plymouth in autumn, must refer to the preceding species. 



VOL. III. 4 S 



