4 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



My disappointment did not last long ; for in a few minutes after, a small 

 flock of five passed, out of which I was so fortunate as to obtain the 

 fine specimen of the Pomarine Skua, in nearly adult plumage, now be- 

 fore you. Several other flocks passed afterwards, and I obtained a se- 

 cond bird (also an adult Pomarine Skua), which I sent to my friend, 

 Dr. Harvey, of Cork. Shortly after obtaining the second Skua, I was 

 called away to attend to some business matters ; and when I returned 

 again to the shore, the flight had ceased for that day. 



On the morning of the 23rd the gale still continued, but changed 

 round to the west and north-west, and, in consequence, the Skuas seen 

 directed their course of flight along the Mayo side of the river, none 

 passing within shot of the Moyview shore. On both days the Skuas, 

 after keeping along the course of the river for a short distance, directed 

 their flight right across the country to the south-west. I had an excel- 

 lent opportunity of observing those that passed on the 22d, and I have 

 little hesitation in considering the greater number to be Pomarine Skuas. 

 The first flock of ten or twelve birds which I saw pass were undoubt- 

 edly of that species, their great size pointing them out as such, and all 

 having long tails and white bellies. It is probable that all the birds of 

 that flock were adults. When seen passing on the wing, the tails of all 

 those which passed near me presented a clumsiness or thickness quite 

 different in appearance from the elegantly pointed tails of the smaller 

 species of Skuas, and the difference was so marked that it attracted my 

 notice at once, but I was unable to account for it until I examined the 

 first bird shot, when the cause of the apparent clumsiness was quite evi- 

 dent. You will perceive in the bird before you that the elongated tail 

 feathers are bluntly rounded at the ends, instead of being finely pointed, 

 as in the smaller Skuas. Very few dark-coloured or immature birds 

 were seen passing on either days, probably not one to ten of the white- 

 bellied ones. I could not well say to what species the birds which 

 passed on the second day belonged, as they flew at too great a distance 

 for me to judge of their size and appearance ; but as the first day's flight 

 was undoubtedly made up of Pomarine Skuas, we may infer that the se- 

 cond day's flight was a continuance of the first, and therefore of the 

 same species. 



The fact of such rare birds occurring in numbers and mature is most 

 interesting, as William Thompson, in his work on the "Birds of Ire- 

 land," records only nine Pomarine Skuas as being obtained in Ireland. 

 His localities and dates are as follow : — " The first taken alive at 

 Youghal, county of Cork, 1 2th of October, 1835; second, shot in Bel- 

 fast Bay, 18th of October, 1835 ; the third (an adult), shot in the Phoe- 

 nix Park, Dublin, 5th of November, same year ; the fourth, shot on the 

 Dublin coast, 6th of October, 1837 ; the fifth, in Dublin Bay, on 21st 

 of December, same year ; sixth, obtained near Portrush, also in 1837; 

 seventh, in Dublin market, 10th of December, 1846; the eighth, shot 

 near Belfast Bay, 1 6th of October, 1 848 ; and, lastly, the ninth, shot in 

 Tralee Bay, county of Kerry, 20th of November, 1850. Of these nine 

 birds mentioned, it is seen that four occurred in the month of October, 



