Food. 
Nest, &c. 
General 
descrip- 
tion. 
Adult bird. 
518 NATATORES. CATARACTES. Skua. 
bold, striking them with great force and power, and pursu- 
ing them to a great distance; the Gulls making a loud and 
screaming noise every time they were struck at. I got an 
Arctic Gull (Skua) in company with them, but saw no 
more; nor have any of the Skua Gulls been seen or heard 
this year.” All these specimens appear to have been birds 
of the first year, the description of their plumage answering 
to that age as given in Temmtnck’s “ Manuel d’Ornitho- 
logie ;” nor have I yet learned that an adult bird has been 
killed in Britain. In Europe, the present species is found 
upon the coasts of Sweden and Norway, where it breeds, 
but has not hitherto been met with in Shetland (the resort 
of the other species), or any of the northern Scottish Islands. 
According to Dr Rrcuarpson, it is common in North Ame- 
rica, inhabiting the northern outlets of Hudson’s Bay and 
other Arctic seas, where it subsists upon fish, and other ani- 
mal substances cast on shore, as well as on the disgorge- 
ments of the Gulls, when pursued and attacked by it. He 
adds, “ that it retires from the north in the winter, and 
makes its first appearance at Hudson’s Bay in May, coming 
in from seaward.” It breeds in situations similar to those 
selected by the Common and Arctic Skuas, constructing its 
nest of moss, dried grass, &c. ‘TEMMINCK mentions the 
eggs as two or three in number, of a yellowish-grey colour, 
thinly spotted with blackish-brown. This species is readily 
distinguished at all ages from the Arctic Skua by its supe- 
rior size, by the greater length of its wings, and the rounded 
ends of the two projecting tail-feathers ; as well as by other 
distinctive tokens in colour and disposition of plumage. 
Pate 101. represents the matured bird, from a specimen in 
the collection of Sir W1ii1am JarpinE, Baronet. 
Bill, from the forehead to the tip, one inch and three- 
eighths long; the soft corneous part greenish-grey, the 
tip black. Irides dark-brown. Face, crown of the head, 
occiput, back, scapulars, wings, and tail, deep blackish- 
