454 



Family STEKCORAKIID^E. 



GREAT SKUA. Megalestris catarrhactes (Linnaeusj. 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. v, pi. 

 78 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 609 ; Lilford, 

 1 Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pi. 31. 



This powerful sea-bird is at all times a scarce autumn 

 and winter visitant to the British coast, and as it generally 

 keeps out to sea, it appears all the more rare. It is, how- 

 ever, not infrequent on the north coast of Scotland, which 

 is not far from its breeding- haunts on the Shetlands, where 

 it is protected. On the contrary, it has been persecuted in 

 the Faroes, rewards having been offered for its head. As a 

 consequence it is now rare in these Islands. The Great Skua 

 was first recorded in the Outer Hebrides by the late Mr. 

 Buckley, who, on January 8th, 1894, saw a specimen which 

 had been shot in North Harris. " Another is recorded by 

 Dr. M'Rury on the authority of Miss Edgar, daughter of the 

 lightkeeper at Barra Head, in the summer of 1893 " 

 (Harvie-Brown, ' Avifauna Of The Outer Hebrides/ 1888- 

 1902; Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1903, p. 17). 



It is very seldom met with inland. 



About eleven specimens have been obtained in Ireland, 

 the counties and dates of capture being as follows : 



Dublin : One, Dublin Bay, early in July, 1833 (Thomp- 

 son, Nat. Hist. Irel., vol. iii, p. 390) ; another, Portmarnock, 

 November, 1836 (ibid.) ; a third, taken alive in Dublin Bay 

 (Watters, ' Birds of Ireland/ p. 263) ; a fourth, Clontarf, 

 October 1st, 1880, received by Messrs. Williams and Son ; 

 now preserved in the Dublin Museum. 



Down : Two, Belfast Lough, August, 1848 ; one, Holy- 

 wood, September 18th, 1848 (Thompson). 



Gal way : One, 1835 (Thompson), now preserved in the 

 Trinity College Museum. 



Cork: One, Bantry Bay, winter, 1845-1846 (Thompson). 



