458 STEKCOKAEIID^E 



MacGillivray, as shot by him in Barra, October 1895 " 

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

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



Around the Irish coasts this species is scarcer and more 

 irregular in its visits. A remarkable migration, however, 

 took place in October, 1862, of both Pomatorhine and 

 Richardson's Skuas, when successive flocks of the former 

 were observed on the Mayo coast flying southward from 

 Killala Bay in the direction of Galway Bay. As a recent 

 occurrence on its passage northward, may be mentioned a 

 specimen obtained on June 6th, 1906, at Loop Head, 

 co. Clare. Barrington, ' Irish Naturalist,' 1906, p. 193). 

 Storm-driven birds have been occasionally met with far 

 inland. 



Flight. On the wing this bird can be distinguished 

 from its congeners by its peculiar tail. The middle feathers 

 are elongated, but not finely attenuated as in other Skuas. 

 Instead, they end in thick rounded plumes, which, for the 

 greater part of their length, are twisted almost at a right 

 angle, so that their surfaces look right and left instead of 

 up and down like the short tail-feathers. On the whole, the 

 tail is not elegant, the long feathers presenting the appear- 

 ance of having been displaced and roughly handled. 



Voice. The voice, usually heard when the breeding- 

 haunts are intruded upon, is shrill and rather discordant. 



Food. The fish which Terns and Gulls are forced to 

 disgorge, when terrorised by their pursuer, forms a large 

 percentage of the diet. Wounded birds are torn to pieces ; 

 indeed, Mr. Ussher mentions that one of these Skuas was 

 shot at Wexford in the act of killing a chicken. Small 

 mammals, notably Lemmings, are eaten ; Watters records 

 a bird which, on dissection, contained the remains of 

 a rat, fish-bones, and feathers. Furthermore, carrion, 

 stranded or floating, does not come amiss to this bird's 

 diversified tastes. 



Nest. The nest is simply a depression in the ground, 

 amid moss, heather, and other vegetation. The eggs, two 

 in number, are olive-brown in colour, with dark brown 

 markings. 



Geographical distribution. The breeding-resorts are in 

 Northern Europe, Asia, notably the Siberian Tundras, at 

 the mouth of the Yenesei, and in Arctic America. The 

 winter-range extends over the European waters to the 

 Mediterranean, and southward along the west coast of Africa, 



