1871.] MR. J. E. HARTING ON ARCTIC BIRDS. 123 



Of late years young birds of this species have occasionally been 

 met with on our own shores. It may be readily distinguished at all 

 seasons by its forked tail, which in the adult is entirely white ; in 

 the young banded at the extremity with black. The adult bird in 

 summer has the head and upper part of the throat blackish grey, 

 terminated by a velvet-black collar. The bill is black, with the tip 

 yellow. Legs and feet black. 



The present case contains a remarkably fine pair in full summer 

 plumage, obtained by Capt. Collinson on the north coast of America, 

 probably in Fox Channel, during a cruise in H.M.S. 'Enterprise' 

 between the years 1851-1854. 



Case 40. Richardson's Skua. 

 Lestris parasiticus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 226. 

 Lestris richardsonii, Swainson, Faun. Bor.-Amer. ii. p. 433, 

 pi. Ixxiii. 



Two specimens, of which no particulars have been preserved. 

 Case 41. Buffon's Skua. 

 Lestris buffonil, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 562. 



Lestris parasitica, Rich. & Swains. Faun. Bor.-Amer. ii. p. 430. 

 Two, procured by Captain Collinson, in the 'Enterprise ' 1851- 

 1854. l 



The habitat usually assigned to this species is the Arctic sea- 

 coasts of Europe and America. Some interesting remarks on its 

 nesting-habits will be found in Wheelwright's ' Spring and Summer 

 in Lapland,' pp. 355-359. He found it breeding in some numbers 

 on the Quickjock Fells, laying, as a rule, but two eggs, and feeding 

 the young exclusively on crowberries (Empetrum nigrum). 



The principal food of the old birds, in addition to the crowberry, 

 he found to consist of beetles and small Crustacea. " I cannot hear 

 of their breeding further south," he adds, " than Peleekaisin, perhaps 

 one hundred miles south of Quickjock." 



Case 42. Arctic Tern. 



Sterna macroura, Naumann, Isis, 1819, p. 1847. 

 Sterna arctica, Temminck, Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 742 (1820). 

 Two procured in lat. 75° 30' N., long. 64° W., by Capt. Collinson. 

 C.B., in H.M.S. 'Enterprise,' betwen 1850 and 1854. 



Case 43. Fulmar Petrel. 

 • Procellaria glacialis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 213. 



The locality whence the single specimen in this case was procured 

 has not been noted. The species abounds in the North-Atlantic 

 Ocean, and in the larger bays and straits. It is a constant attendant 

 upon the whalers, assembling in large numbers when a Whale is 

 being cut up, and is so greedy and fearless on these occasions as 

 frequently to approach within a few yards of the sailors. 



