396 LABID^, 



perfectly fresh state floating in Diingarvaii Bay, on the Water- 

 ford coast : — it was kindly sent to Dublin for my inspection. At 

 the time it was met with, that gentleman observed some skuas in 

 pursuit of gulls outside the Bay of Dungarvan, but the exact 

 species could not be told. Mr. E. Chute informed me in Fe- 

 bruary 1846, that he had " got a fine old Richardson's skua 

 (light straw-coloured one described by Yarrell) shot in Tralee Bay 

 in the winter of 1845 ; also a young bird (a black-toed gull) shot 

 by a gentleman when grouse-shooting on the 20th of August last.'" 

 On the 19th of September, 1846, a young bird of the year, 

 slightly wounded near Bangor, Belfast Bay, came into the posses- 

 sion of Dr. J. D. Marshall, with whom it became at once famihar. 

 It was a very attractive pet-bird, perching on his arm, and 

 looking up to his face, in the most engagiug manner, with its fine 

 beaming hazel eye. It took great pleasure in the application of 

 the hand to its plumage. It was fed wholly on fish, which were 

 freely partaken of, and on their being let drop from a little 

 height, would be seized before they reached the ground. The 

 cause of its death was unknown : it appeared in the highest 

 health the day before. A bird of this species, shot in Belfast 

 Bay on the 20th of September, 1850, is in what I should con- 

 sider the plumage of the second year. Its legs and toes with 

 webs are wholly black. The two longest tail-feathers exceed 

 the next in length by an inch, and suddenly taper to a point, 

 being nearly an inch broad where they pass the others, though 

 quite pointed at the extremity. Mr. R. J. Montgomery informs 

 me that a very observant man in the Coast Guard Service has 

 seen Richardson's skua in the bays of Dundalk and Drogheda, as 

 well as on the west coast, and that he described the birds in a 

 manner not to be mistaken. He once obtained their nest on a 

 small rocky islet off Acliil, where he was stationed for several 

 years. This statement connected with L. Richardson ii is good, 

 as it is the only one of the four species at all likely to breed 

 there ; — it and L. catarrhactes are the only two knov.n to nidify 

 in the British Islands, and the latter, as ah'eady mentioned, is 

 coniined to the Shetlands. Richardson's skua breeds in a 



