THE LONG-TATLED SKUA. 



401 



also, but some miles nearer to tlie entrance of the harbour, Mr. 

 Hyndman, when dredging in the autumn of 1841, saw an adult 

 male on wing; its extremely long tail-feathers satisfyiug him 

 of its species. In the 'Dublin Penny Journal' of March 9th, 

 1833 (p. 292), a bird of an unknown kind was described and 

 figured. Being in Dublin that month I went to see the speci- 

 men, which was in the collection of Mr. Massey of the Pigeon- 

 house Port, and found it to be an immature long-tailed skua. 

 It was shot on the 9th of October, 1832, from the Pigeon-house 

 wall, which runs far into the Bay of Dublin. 



Mr. J. V. Stewart informed me in June 1845, that while 

 sea-shooting at Ards in the north-west of Donegal in November 

 1816 or 1817, four of these skuas, in company, flew over his head, 

 and he killed one of them; — he had not seen the species since. 

 He considered skuas generally as very rare there, and though 

 yachting much at one period, had observed only two or three 

 more of the genus :■ — they were all larger than the bird now 

 under consideration. 



On the 20th of October, 1845, two of these long-tailed skuas 

 were seen flying in a south-west direction above Belfast Bay. One 

 was shot on the 1st of March, 1846, in a ploughed field near Tra- 

 more (county Waterford), in which it was picking up objects from 

 the ground. It came in rapid flight direct from the sea to the 

 field. This bird is in the collection of Mr. Warren, Dublin. Its 



Length (total), to end of two longest tail-feathers 



exclusive of two longest tail-feathers 



of wing ...... 



of bill above, without measuring curve . 



of bill to rictus, measured in a straight line 



of tarsus ...... 



of middle toe and nail in a straight line . 

 Transverse diameter of bill at front 

 Of the two longest tail-feathers ; the one passes others 



„ „ the second passes others 



Breadth of the two longest tail-feathers where they pass the 

 others ....... 



This bird would have been adult at the following 

 VOL. III. 2 D 



3. 



liu. 



7 







5 



6 



2 



3 



1 







1 

 1 



7 



1 



4 







1 







1 



6 



H 



moult. 



