BuLLer,.—0n a Species of Lestris. 855 
euckoo of ours is not a permanent resident, but migrates every winter to 
the Society Islands. Of this annual migration, across 1,500 miles of ocean, 
Captain Hutton has well remarked “there is nothing in the whole world so 
wonderful |” 
Art, XLV.—Remarks on a Species of Lestris, inhabiting our Seas. 
By Walter L. Burizr, C.M.G., Sc.D., eto. 
(Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 17th August, 1878.) 
I mave the pleasure of exhibiting this evening, in illustration of the remarks 
I am about to offer, the only four known examples of the small Skua yet 
obtained in New Zealand. The first of these is the adult bird described in 
my ‘ Birds of New Zealand ” (p. 268), and shot by myself at Horowhenua, 
on April 30th, 1864; the second is Dr. Hector's young specimen, noticed 
by me in the Transactions, Vol. VII, p. 225; the third is another young 
bird, shot in Wellington Harbour in January, 1877, and mentioned in my 
paper in last volume of Transactions, p. 200; and the fourth, and most 
recent, is a specimen in more mature plumage, for which I am indebted to 
Mr. C. H. Robson, who picked it up at the beach at Cape Campbell, in a 
perfectly fresh state, in the last week of November, 1877. 
In my work I referred the first-named example to Stercorarius parasiticus, 
Linn., and added the following remarks :—‘ Dr. Finsch, to whom I sub- 
mitted the skin, is of opinion that it is an immature bird; and Mr. Howard 
Saunders, who has made the Laride his special study, expresses his convic- 
tion that it is a new and hitherto undescribed species. I am rather disposed, 
however, to consider it an aged female of the species known as Buffon's 
Skua, with the plumage much faded and worn, indicating a sick or exhausted 
condition of body. I may add that the two middle tail-feathers are only 
partially developed, being encased in a sheath at the base. They extend 
only about an inch beyond the rest, and are much abraded, having a 
peculiar filamentous appearance,” 
Mr. Howard Saunders, who, as Lord Walden justly says, may be con- 
sidered the “first authority” on the family of birds to which the Skua 
belongs, communicated to the Zoological Society on the 8rd March, 1876, 
a paper ‘On the Stercorariine or Skua Gulls,” in which he deals chiefly 
with the synonymy and geographical range of the members of that group. 
In his list of synonyms of Stercorarius crepidatus (Riehardson's Skua) 
Mr. Saunders includes my Stercorarius parasiticus, and in his account of the 
species he observes that he can refer to no other the example recorded, as - 
above-mentioned, in my book, adding—‘ His general description suits m ! ; » 
