THE LONG-TAILED SKUA. 405 



I saw tliree skuas in company^ all of which were of a uniform 

 blackish-brown colour. Mr. Hyndman, who went farther out 

 to sea than I did myself, saw one apparently larger than those 

 just mentioned, and with white on the under plumage ; oui" 

 boatman said that " two sizes " of them were known to him, 

 the larger being white beneath. A gentleman residing at Dun- 

 drum, who shoots much about the bay, stated that " three sizes 

 of dirt-birds," as he called them, frequent it, and that the largest 

 is the whitest on the under parts : none of them is near the size 

 of the L. catarrhactes. If my informant be correct respecting 

 the " three sizes," and the largest being less than that species, 

 they must be L.pomarinus, L. Richarclsonii, and L. lotigicaudatus ; 

 the white-bellied one of the greatest size will be the adult male 

 of L. pomarinus, but this description of colour is no guide to 

 species, as all the three pass through much the same changes of 

 plumage, and the under parts are more or less white in the adult 

 males of all. Mr. Montgomery noted liis having seen three 

 arctic gulls in the outer bay of Dundrum in August 1828. 



In crossing from the mainland to the island of Lambay, off the 

 Dublin coast, on the 5th of June, 1838, we saw two skuas, which 

 were so dark in colour as to appear entirely black ; they produced 

 great consternation among a group of terns [Sterna htnindo and 

 S. arctica) by giving chase to them : their flight was amazingly 

 rapid ; they literally " bore down " upon their weaker brethren. 

 Skuas have been observed by Mr. S. Poole about tlie Saltee 

 Islands, Wexford coast, in summer, and another gentleman states 

 that they may be seen " all the year " off the eastern bar of 

 Wexford Harbour. Specimens have been obtained on the coast 

 of Waterford -^ Mr. R. Ball has observed young birds so early as 

 the beginning of July about Youghal, and one species is con- 

 sidered common on the Galway coast. t Skuas, or " black gulls," 

 as they were called, about the size of the common gull, but " ra- 

 ther heavier in the wings, and having pointed tails," have been 

 observed in Tralec Bay in 1846, and again in January 1850. 



* Dr. Burkitt. t Mr. W. M'Calla. 



