458 



quills blackish brown, primaries white on the basal half, the white extending less on the outer than on 

 the inner web, but forming a tolerably conspicuous alar patch ; wing-coverts blackish brown, slightly 

 marked with rust-colour on the edge of the wing; tail blackish brown, marked with white at the 

 extreme base, the central rectrices extending nearly an inch beyond the outer ones ; underparts dark 

 brown, with a rufous tinge on the abdomen, feathers on the throat with yellowish shaft-markings; 

 flanks slightly marked with rufous; bill black, lighter towards the base; iris dark brown; feet black, 

 with a bluish grey tinge. Total length about 22 inches, culmen 2 - 4, gape 2 - 65, wing 15 - 6, tail 7 - 0, 

 tarsus 2' 7. 



Female. Similar to the male. 



Young (Yorkshire coast) . Eesembles the old bird, but is more profusely marked, especially on the head and 

 neck, with yellowish or rusty yellow, and the upper wing-coverts are variegated with rusty red ; the 

 tail is lighter, conspicuously white on the basal portion, and the white on the wings covers a somewhat 

 larger area. 



Nestling. Covered with soft, close, uniform brownish or cinnamon-grey down, rather darker in colour on 

 the upper parts than on the under surface of the body. 



Obs. Like all the Skuas the present species has a dark, almost uniform, sooty brown stage of plumage ; but 

 whether this is a variety or melanism, or whether the dress of the very old bird, it is impossible to say. 

 I lean, however, to the opinion that it is a sort of melanism, irrespective of age or sex, such as one sees 

 in many of the true birds of prey. I am indebted to Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., for the loan of a very fine 

 specimen in this stage of plumage, which I have figured in the foreground of my Plate, this dress 

 having been, so far as I can ascertain, but little noticed in the present species. This specimen has the 

 upper parts deep sooty blackish brown, rather paler on the head and neck, the latter having only a few, 

 almost obsolete, yellowish grey shaft-markings ; wings and tail blackish brown, the white at the base 

 of the feathers not much developed ; underparts uniform dark sooty brown, the under tail-coverts rather 

 darker than the rest of the underparts. 



The range of this, the largest of the Skuas, is comparatively restricted ; for it is only met with in 

 the northern portions of the Atlantic and North Sea, and straggles rarely down to the mainland 

 of Europe, where it is most frequently seen on the west and north-west coasts. In the southern 

 hemisphere it is replaced by a closely allied species, Stercorarius antarcticus (Less.), which differs 

 in having a shorter and stouter bill, with a more obtuse tip. 



In Great Britain the present species is only known to inhabit the Shetland Isles during the 

 breeding-season ; but in the autumn examples are met with off our eastern coast, and specimens 

 have been obtained in various places both on the east and south coasts. I have on several 

 occasions seen it exposed for sale in Leadenhall Market, though in latter years I do not recollect 

 having observed one there. On the west coast it is less frequently met with than on the east 

 side of our island ; and, referring to its scarcity on the west coast of Scotland, Mr. It. Gray 

 writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 493), " I have not, indeed, seen more than three or four examples 

 during the last twenty years: one was obtained on Loch Nell, near Oban, in the autumn of 

 1867; and another was found alive in a cornfield near Aberfoyle, on the banks of the Forth, in 

 September 1862." It occurs on the coast of Ireland, but is, Thompson states, but rarely obtained 

 there. 



