620 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



Mr. SanforcTs other birds, these feathers did not 

 appear to me to be entirely missing, but were evi- 

 dently just growing, and did not project more than 

 half an inch beyond the rest of the tail-feathers, in- 

 stead of nine inches, which appears to be their usual 

 length. Wellington, near which place this bird was 

 shot, is a considerable distance (nearly fourteen 

 miles) inland from the coast of the Bristol Channel, 

 the nearest sea ; but this bird appears to make occa- 

 sional expeditions inland, as it has been killed at 

 Thetford, in the interior of Norfolk, and in Hunt- 

 ingdonshire. 



The food of Buifon's Skua appears to be much 

 the same as that of the last-mentioned species, but 

 perhaps it is not quite such a plunderer as some of 

 the other Skuas, as it has been shot when following 

 the plough in search of worms : it has also been 

 proved by dissection to have fed upon beetles. 



I do not anywhere find much description of the 

 breeding habits of this bird, but, as far as mentioned 

 at all, they appear to resemble those of the other 

 Skuas. 



This is rather a smaller bird than Richardson's 

 Skua, but the long middle tail-feathers project 

 further beyond the rest of the tail. The adult 

 bird, according to Yarrell, has the base of the bill, 

 including the cere, dark greenish brown, the horny 

 point black ; irides brown ; all the upper part of the 

 head black; sides and back of the neck white, 



