482 



dalibus sordide et saturate fusco-cinereis : rostro nigra, versus basin plumbeo : iride fusca : pedibus 

 plumbeis, nigra notatis. 



$ ad. mari similis sed minor, rectricibus centralibus brevioribus. 



Adult Male (Vadso, Finmark, 1st July). Crown, nape, and sides of the head to below the eye deep glossy 

 blackish brown, rather paler towards the forehead ; neck white, on the sides washed with yellow ; upper 

 parts ashy grey, clearer on the fore part of the back ; quills blackish brown, the shafts of the first two 

 white, and of the rest brownish; wing- coverts, innermost secondaries, and scapulars similar in colour 

 to the back ; tail blackish brown, the two central feathers much elongated, and tapering nearly to a 

 point, at the base coloured like the back, and gradually darkening into blackish brown towards the 

 tip ; chin, throat, and upper breast white, the throat tinged with yellow, the lower breast tinged with 

 dull ashy grey ; abdomen and under tail-coverts dull dark ashy with a brown tinge ; bill black, except 

 towards the base, where it is lead-bluish ; iris dark brown ; legs lead-colour, with large patches of black 

 on the feet, covering the larger portion of the foot. Total length about 21 inches, culmen T15, wing 

 ll"5j tail 13 - 0, the central rectrices extending 8"1 beyond the lateral ones, tarsus l - 5. 



Adult Female. Resembles the male in every respect, except that, as a rule, it is rather smaller in size, and 

 the central rectrices are not so elongated. 



Young. Differs from the young of Stercorarius crepidatun in being much darker, and in colour resembles 

 more the young of S. pomatorhinus, though in size it is less than S. crepidatus, from which it may 

 always be distinguished by having the shafts of the first two primaries only white ; the bill is lead-blue, 

 except at the tip, where it is black; tarsi lead-blue, the feet paler with a large patch of black across 

 the fore part. 



Obs. The colour of the tarsus and feet appears to vary much according to the age of the bird. Naumann 

 says that the young bird has the legs lead-blue, whitish on the webs of the feet, but that by degrees 

 they grow darker, black coming in patches first on the feet, and then spreading all over until the very 

 old bird has the legs and feet quite black ; and Mr. Collett informs me that adult birds he shot had the 

 tarsus plumbeous grey, the tibia and toes black, but the distribution of the black and plumbeous differed 

 in almost all those he examined, and one had a large black spot on the centre of the tarsus. 



This, the smallest of the four European species of Skuas, inhabits the northern portions of both 

 the Paleearctic and Nearctic Regions, its range being circumpolar. In Great Britain it is known 

 chiefly as a tolerably rare straggler, though it is stated to have bred in Scotland. Mr. A. G. 

 More writes (Ibis, 1865, p. 456) as follows: — " Respecting a former breeding-station in Caithness, 

 Mr. R. J. Shearer, of Ulbster Housewick, has favoured me with the following particulars : — 

 ' Seven or eight years ago a few pairs of the Long-tailed Skua were always found breeding on the 

 same ground with the commoner species. This was on a large inland flat, studded with small 

 dark lochs. Besides the two Skuas, the Lesser Black-backed Gull, the common Gull, and the 

 Curlew used to breed on the same spot. In 1860, a pair of Long-tailed Skuas were shot on this 

 ground during the breeding-season; and when Dr. Sinclair, in 1840, published a list of the birds 

 of Caithness, he had found only the Long-tailed Skua, which at that time seemed to be the most 

 numerous, and easily obtained on this breeding-ground.' On revisiting this spot in 1861, Mr. 

 Shearer found that nearly all the Skuas had been destroyed by a gamekeeper, who made a 



