TWIST-TAILED SKUA. 



LESTRIS POMARINUS, Temm. 



Lestris pomarinuSj Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 514- (1815) ; Macg. 



v.-p. 487. 

 Lestris pomarina, Nauru, x. p. 487. 

 Stercorarius poniatorhinus, Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 668 ; Dresser, 



viii. p. 463. 



Labbe Pomarin, French; Mittlere Raubmove, German. 



This is a species that I have only seen alive in our 

 aviary at Lilford, and I am therefore unable to give any 

 details as to its natural habits from personal observation. 

 It is said to have been found breeding in the arctic 

 regions of Asia and America; but in Europe it is only 

 known as an irregular autumnal visitor. On our British 

 coasts its appearance is extremely uncertain ; but it 

 occasionally appears in vast numbers, generally on our 

 eastern sea-board, to which district, however, its visits 

 are by no means exclusively confined, and there are 

 many recorded instances of its occurrence inland. 



The examples from which my Plates were taken were 

 killed from a fishing-smack off Great Yarmouth in the 

 first week of November 1890, and sent up to London 

 " in the flesh " by Mr. George Smith, of the first-named 

 port. 



