1052 LARTJS BRUNNEICEPHALUS. 



does not seem to have noticed it on the China coasts. Northward of the Mongolian territory it does not seem 

 to extend, for it is not recorded from Siberia; and though Cassin noticed it as having been obtained in Japan 

 by Parry's expedition, Mr. Saunders is of opinion that the example in question was nothing but L. ridibundus. 



Habits. — The Brown-headed Gull, which takes the place in Ceylon of the Kittiwake and the Laughing 

 Gulls of European coasts, associates in large flocks, and when thus assembled together in certain localities, to 

 feed on the shoals of sardines which throng the sea on the north coasts, is quite as much an ornament to 

 tropical waters as those well-known birds are to English seas. They follow shoals of these fish for days, and 

 collect in hundreds at fishing-time, hovering over the buoys of the sein-nets, some alighting on the water and 

 seizing the fish which jump over the line, others plunging down on their prey from above, while many spend 

 their time in fruitless endeavours to snatch the food from the much swifter-flying Terns. They evince no fear 

 whatever of the scantily-clad fishermen, dropping into the water within an oar's length of their canoes, or joining 



to take it for granted that it was captured iu a wild state so far out of the known range of the species ; and I therefore 

 place it as a doubtful member of the avifauna of Ceylon. At the same time, by so doing, I by uo means wish to infer 

 that it may not, in like manner with the Cape Pigeon, have strayed north into the Gulf of Manaar ; I adopt the present 

 course simply because I am unable to prove that it was not brought to the island in a ship from southern seas. 



The habitat of this large Skua is the southern seas, from the edge of the pack-ice northward to the Cape of Good 

 Hope and the shores of Australia. Between these parallels it is found in the vicinity of the existing islands, but does 

 not occur from New Zealand eastward to Cape Horn, whore, again, it is found at the Straits of Magellan and the 

 Falkland Islands. Its most northerly ordinary limit in the Pacific appears to be Norfolk Island, but it has occurred as 

 far north as Rockingham Bay. It was procured by the naturalists of H.M.S. ' Challenger ' at Tristan d'Acunha, 

 Kerguelen Island, and the Falkland Islands. Captain Hutton states that it is very numerous on Kerguelen Island and 

 Prince Edward's Island, breeding there, and that it is very rare north of lat. 45° S. At the Cape, Layard observed it in 

 April ; but it does not seem to be common there. Gould likewise records it from the Cape of Good Hope and near Cape 

 Horn, and remarks that he saw it nowhere so abundant as oS the coasts of Tasmania, near Storm Bay. I have seen it 

 frequently off the west coast of Australia, and in the Bight between King George's Sound and Bass's Straits. The 

 occurrence of one specimen only on the coasts of New Zealand is noticed by Mr. Buller. 



Habits. — The Skuas (or Parasitic Gulls, as they are sometimes called) subsist largely on the food taken by Gulls, 

 Terns, and Petrels, which they chase until they drop their booty. The Antarctic Skua, which is one of the largest of its 

 family, is a bird of bold, fierce disposition and powerful flight, often wandering far from land in company with the 

 Petrels which affect the Southern Ocean, and associating with them, in order to rob them of the food which they pick 

 up iu the wake of vessels. I have seen it steadily cruising round a flock of " Cape Pigeons,'' watching for au oppor- 

 tunity to launch itself after these assiduous toilers of the sea : catching sight of one which has picked something up, a 

 few vigorous strokes of its pinions give it the required impetus, and it descends with a rush upon the pretty bird, 

 turning and twisting after it with almost motionless pinions. Dr. M'Cormack, of H.M.S. ' Erebus,' speaks of a fierce 

 Skua (evidently this species) which haunted the breeding-place of the Albatross at the Auckland Isles, ever on the watch 

 to pounce down and devour this bird's egg on her quitting it. in search of food. It is said to prey on the flesh of other 

 birds at Kerguelen Laud, avoiding the water. The individual alluded to above was kept by me in confinement for six 

 mouths, and then brought home to the Zoological Gardens, where it was unfortunately allowed to fly away. I confined 

 it in an aviary containing a Ceylon Wood-Owl and a Malay Bittern (Gorsachias melanolophus) ; it proved to be, as might 

 have been expected, a most ravenous bird, gobbling up the Owl's meat whenever it dropped from the perch above, 

 or chasing the Bittern round the aviary and snatching its food from its bill, and this after it had been amply fed itself. 

 It had a hoarse cackling cry, which it chiefly gave vent to when hungry. 



Nidifieation. — This Skua, which has been found breeding on the Crozets, Kerguelen Land, and Prince Edward's 

 Island, lays, according to Captain Hutton, on low flats, among moss and grass two or three feet high, making no nest. 

 The eggs are two or three iu number, and are described by Layard, from specimens brought from the Crozets, as " pale 

 brown-green, spotted, chiefly at the obtuse end, with large and distinct pale purple and brown blotches ; " they measure 3"0 

 by 2-08 (2" 1'") inches. An egg from the Chatham Islands is described by Capt. Hutton as olive-brown, with large brown 

 and purplish-grey spots ; length 3"! by 2T inches. 



