Skua. NATATORES. CATARACTES. 519 
brown, with a slight tinge of grey. Sides and nape of 
the neck clothed with long subulated feathers of a glis- 
tening sienna-yellow. Throat, forepart of the neck, 
belly and abdomen, white. Breast having a collar or 
gorget of greyish or broccoli brown spots. Flanks and 
lower tail-coverts dashed with greyish-brown. The two 
middle tail-feathers elongated, but preserving their 
breadth throughout. Shafts of the quills and tail-fea- 
thers white. Legs and toes black; the hind toe very 
short, and armed with a stout nail. 
The following description answers to one of the indivi- 
duals examined by Mr Wituiamson, and agrees with 
one in my possession; being the plumage of the first 
year. 
Length twenty inches; breadth of the extended wings Young. 
forty-six inches. Bill one inch and a half long, of a 
bluish colour; the upper mandible having the culmen 
rounded, as far as the dertrum, which is bent down 
like that of the Common Skua, and is black. A groove 
from the top and bottom of the nostrils extends to the 
base of the bill, making the cereous part of the upper 
mandible appear as if in three longitudinal divisions. 
The lower mandible has its tomia bending inwards, and 
a longitudinal groove extends from the base for upwards 
of half its length. Irides hazel. Legs and feet bluish- 
black, with the claws black and much hooked. Head 
and neck clove-brown, tinged with grey, and the fea- 
thers very finely margined with pale brown. Upper 
plumage deep clove-brown, with the tips of the feathers 
yellowish-brown ; broadest on each side of the shaft, 
and looking like two spots. Under plumage having the 
basal part of the feathers white, the rest marbled with 
yellowish-brown and clove-brown. Upper and under 
tail-coverts transversely barred with pale clove-brown 
and reddish-white. Shafts and basal part of the inner 
