Richardson's skua. 397 



number of the more northern Scottish islands. Mr. Montgomery 

 mentions that this bird has been shot at Dunany Point, county 

 Louthj by Lieut. Wray, E.N. ; and that he saw an immature 

 specimen in a fresh state about the year 1846 (in Mr. Glennon's, 

 Suflblk Street, Dublin). It was said to have been shot inland at 

 Powerscourt, county Wicklow. In a subsequent communication 

 my correspondent states that he had seen — but never within shot 

 — several of these birds, both adult and young, in the Bay of 

 Drogheda, within the first three weeks of September 1850. 



Sir Wm. Jardine considers that this " is certainly the most 

 common of the British skuas," ^ and that late in autumn it is not 

 unfrequent in the Prith of Porth, where he has procured many 

 specimens in various states of plumage, from having shot both the 

 adult and young : Mr. Yarrell, too, considers it the most common. 

 It would be difficult to say what Lestr'is is the most frequent 

 on the Irish shores, as the skuas, though daily seen in the autumn 

 on some parts of the coast, are not often shot -, but it is singular 

 that of the species considered the rarest in England and Scotland 

 — L. longicaiidatus — most specimens have come under my in- 

 spection ; and of the next rarest — L. pomarimiS' — as indeed of 

 the L. catarrhactes also, I have seen more individuals than of 

 the L. Richardsonii noticed as the most common species in Great 

 Britain. 



The editor of the ' Edinburgh Philosophical Journal ' adds 

 (vol. i. p. 104, 1819) the following note to an interesting paper 

 of Dr. Pleming's, " On the Arctic and Skua Gulls :" — " During 

 our six days' confinement by a storm, on the dreary and remote 

 rock of Poulah, we had frequent opportunities of observing the 

 arctic skua. This bird we found fully as troublesome as the com- 

 mon skua, for the moment we approached near to its nest it beat 

 us upon the head and in the face with its wings, and continued to 

 pursue us until we quitted its domain." 



Mr. James "Wilson, in his ' Voyage round the Coast of Scot- 

 land and the Isles/ thus describes what was to liim a new 

 feature in this bird's habits : — " Saw around us for the first 

 * ' Brit. Birds,' vol. iv. p. 26?. 



