840 STERCORARIUS 



prey, and also takes numbers of young sea birds and eggs ; it 

 also feeds on carrion when obtainable. Its cry is a somewhat 

 harsh skui, skid, and when disturbed and flying over its 

 nesting place it utters a cry not unlike the cackling of a Goose. 

 Its nest is a depression in the mossy ground on islands and 

 high moorlands, scantily lined with dry grass and moss, and 

 though not actually breeding in societies, several pairs are fre- 

 quently found near together. Two eggs are deposited late in 

 May, which are dull greenish olive-brown, some greener and 

 others browner in tinge, marked with dark brown, and measure 

 about 2-87 by 1'86. 



1155. POMATORHINE SKUA. 

 STERCORARIUS FOMATORHINUS. 



Stercorariuspomatorhinus (Temm.), Man. d'Orn. p. 514 (1815) ; (Naum.). 

 x. p. 487, Taf. 271 ; (Middend.), Sib. Eeise, Zool. p. 240, Taf. 24, 

 fig. 1 (egg) ; (Gould), B. of E. v. pi. 440 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. v. 

 pi. 79 ; Newton, P.Z.S. 1861, pi. xxxix. fig. 3 (egg) ; Dresser, viii. 

 p. 463, pi. 610 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iv. p. 330 ; Saunders, 



Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxv. p. 322 ; id. Manual, p. 689 ; Tacz. F. 0. 

 Sib. 0. p. 1061 ; Kidgway, p. 22 ; Lilford, vi. p. 74, pis. 32, 33 ; 

 Boyce Hill, Ibis, 1900, p. 526, pi. xi. (eggs). 



Ldbbe Pomarin, French; Mandriao, Portug. ; Galliano nero, 

 Ital.; Mittlere-Raubmowe, German; Middelste-Jzger, Dutch; Mid- 

 delltjove> Dan. ; Bredhalet-Jo, Norweg.; Bredstjertad Labb, Swed.; 

 Leveapyrstoinen-rdiska, Finn. ; Pomornik-srednie, Fdmka, Russ. 



ad. (Faeroes). Crown, nape, sides of head, back, wings, and tail 

 deep brown or blackish brown ; fore back slightly marked with white ; 

 primaries with basal portion and shafts white ; middle tail-feathers 

 elongated but blunt ; neck all round, chin, and under parts white, the first 

 tinged with golden yellow ; a band across the breast and flanks marked 

 and barred with dark brown ; under wing-coverts, axillaries, lower 

 abdomen, crissum, and under tail-coverts dark brown, the three last 

 slightly marked with white ; bill dark horn, bluish at the base ; legs and 

 feet blackish ; iris brown. Culmen 1'8, wing 13*8, tail 8'75, the middle 

 feathers 2*7 longer than the lateral ones, tarsus 2'0 inch. In adult birds 

 the middle rectrices are much elongated and almost spatulate, having a 

 curious twist in the shaft which brings the lower surface of the vanes 

 towards the tip to meet in a vertical direction. 



Hob. The high northern portions of the Old and New Worlds, 

 in autumn and winter ranging to the British Islands, 

 Scandinavia, and continental Europe south to the Mediter- 

 ranean, where it is comparatively rare, and on the West African 

 coast south to 23 S. ; Northern Siberia, Kamchatka, and the 



