618 BIRDS OF SOMEESETSHIRE. 



and sucking the eggs of the Gulls, Guillemots, &c., 

 that are unfortunate enough to be too near neigh- 

 hours during the breeding season. 



I have taken the following description of Richard- 

 son's Skua from Yarrell : " The young bird in its 

 first autumn and winter has the base of the beak 

 and cere brownish grey, the rest black and much 

 curved towards the point ; irides dark brown ; the 

 head and neck pale brown, streaked with dark 

 brown ; back, wing-coverts and tertials umber- 

 brown, margined with wood-brown ; wing-primaries 

 brownish black, tipped with pale brown; the tail- 

 feathers pale brown at the base, then brownish black 

 to the end, the central pair half an inch longer than 

 the others ; neck in front, breast, belly and under 

 tail-coverts pale yellowish wood-brown, and trans- 

 versely barred with umber-brown ; legs and base of 

 the toes yellow; ends of the toes and webs black," 

 hence the bird is at this period sometimes called the 

 "Blacktoed Gull;" as the bird increases in age the 

 yellow is lost by degrees. The next stage noticed 

 by Yarrell he supposes to be arrived at in the 

 second year : the plumage is of a uniform greyish 

 umber-brown, the whole of the light brown margins 

 having disappeared. After this stage a few yellow 

 hair-like streaks appear on the sides of the neck ; 

 next, the sides of the neck become lighter in colour, 

 and in advancing age the neck all round becomes 

 white, tinged with yellow, the head remaining the 



