THE POMAKINE SKUA. 379 



northern islands, both in rocks and in the upland wastes. 

 The nest is rudely formed, and the eggs are generally two, of 

 a paler or darker olive, according to circumstances, and 

 marked with a few spots. When the breeding season is over, 

 they disperse, and range the ocean along with the other sea 

 birds, upon which they continue to levy their contributions 

 all the year round. But though they depend chiefly on the 

 gulls for food, they have other resources, which lead one, by 

 very obvious analogy, again to their wingless brethren. 

 When they can come unawares upon a defenceless bird, they 

 do not hesitate to dispatch him both with beak and claws, 

 and (the smaller species in particular) are great plunderers 

 of the nests of other birds, more especially of those of the 

 shore and marsh birds which breed on the islets near the 

 northern coasts. 



THE POMAKINE SKUA (Lestris pomarinus). 



The pomarine skua is the next largest species, and bears 

 some resemblance, both in its general appearance and its 

 plumage, as well to the sea eagle as to the larger hawks. 

 As a British bird it is rare, and can be regarded only as a 

 straggler from the north-western seas. Specimens do, how- 

 ever, sometimes occur, and one in particular was sent from 

 Devonshire, alive, to the Zoological Society of London, in 

 the winter of 1831. The bird is about eighteen inches in 

 length, with the wings long, and the tail not so pointed or 

 wedge-shaped as in the common skua ; the tarsi also are 

 long, but the toes short, and the webs small. The bill instead 

 of being black, as in the former species, is greenish yellow, 

 the irides yellowish brown, and the feet black. The head is 

 blackish brown ; the feathers on the sides of the neck 

 slender, produced, silky, and of a yellowish colour. The 

 general colour of the upper part is blackish brown, and the 

 under part dull greyish white, mottled with rather obscure 



