BULLER.—On a Species of Lestris. 857 
test, itis sufficiently evident that our bird is not Stercorarius parasiticus, 
as Dr. Finsch and myself had supposed; for it will be seen that in all 
the specimens now exhibited the whole of the primaries have white shafts. 
The next point to be considered is whether Mr. Saunders is right in 
referring it to Stercorarius crepidatus. He says :—“ Dr. Coues considers 
that the Larus crepidatus of Gmelin is in all probability based upon the 
young of the Pomatorhine Skua, to which Brisson gave the name of 
Stercorarius striatus. It is true that Gmelin (who translated from Latham) 
identifies S. striatus of Brisson with his L. crepidatus; but although S. 
strialus is certainly a young Pomatorhine, it was by no means easily 
recognizable by the naturalists of that day. * * * On referring to 
Hawkesworth's Voyages (1773) Vol. IL, p. 15 (not Vol. L, p. 15, as 
erroneously cited by Latham, and of course duly copied by Gmelin, 
without reference), we find in the narrative of Lieut. Cook's Voyage in the 
‘Endeavour ' that ** on the 8th Oct., 1768, when a little to the South of the 
Cape-Verd Islands, Sir Joseph Banks shot the black-toed gull, not yet 
described according to Linneus’s system; he gave it the name of Larus 
ereptdatus.« The black-toed gull is described in Pennant’s British Zoology 
Vol. IL, p. 419 (1768); and plate 2 is an excellent representation of 
Richardson’s Skua of the year, the feet of this species at that age having the 
upper parts of the webs yellowish, and the posterior portion black, giving the 
bird the appearance of being ‘shod’ or ‘ sandalled,’ whence Bank's some- 
what quaint Latin rendering.” (The italics are mine). 
If this character of the coloured feet is reliable, then it is pretty evident 
also that our bird is not Stercorarius crepidatus ; for it will be seen that in 
the young examples exhibited, the feet are similar to those of the adult—-a 
uniform greyish-black—if we except a dull spot of yellow at the inner angle 
of the toes. There is nothing of the ‘ sandalled’ appearance described by 
Sir Joseph Banks, though possibly a still younger bird might exhibit more 
of the yellow. 
I do not care to pronounce any distinct opinion till I have received 
specimens of the European bird for comparison with ours; but it seems 
to me that the nearly adult example of the New Zealand bird, now 
exhibited, is readily separable from the adult of S. crepidatus as described 
in the books of reference. The ‘burnished acuminate feathers" on the 
nape are wanting in our bird, and the points of the two narrow, over- 
lapping tail-feathers extend only two decimal parts of an inch beyond the . 
rest, as shown in the accompanying sketch (fig. 1) :— 
