1184 Birds. 



but exceedingly rare. The only instance I know of its having 

 been killed on this coast, is that recorded in my former Catalogue, p. 

 13, No. 105, and which took place at Seaton Snook, in the hard win- 

 ter of 1823. It is not included in Mr. Selby's Catalogue. 



Greater Shearwater, Puffinus major. Messrs. Temminck and 

 Yarrell consider the shearwater shot by Mr. G. Marwood in a storm 

 at the Tees' mouth in August, 1828, as the Puffinus major of Faber, 

 and I have accordingly continued that name, rather than Puffinus fu- 

 liginosus of Mr. Strickland. 



Manx Shearwater, Puffinus Anglorum. At Hartlepool, rare, ac- 

 cording to Sharp's List. Frequents, likewise, the seas of the south 

 of Europe. It is worth noticing, that as the feet of these last two ge- 

 nera are somewhat out of the centre, they walk indifferently ; but, their 

 wings being long, they fly well. They dive and swim with facility. 

 Stormy Sea-runner, or Petrel, Thalassidroma pelagica. An in- 

 dividual was shot on the Tees, near Stockton, in the winter of 1837. 

 On our sea it is common ; and Sir C. Sharp says, at Hartlepool it is 

 " frequently caught by the children in winter." Inhabits not only the 

 seas at Iceland and Scandinavia, but also in France, Italy and Africa. 

 It is often called the storm-finch ; and being the least of our sea-birds, 

 it may therefore be termed the sea- wren. The legs are placed more 

 like those of the gulls, and about the centre of the body, but the tarsi 

 are slender and elongated. The toes also, are comparatively of great 

 length, and the whole feet seem splayed and broad. The tail and 

 long wings cause it to have much resemblance to the sea-swallows or 

 terns. 



Common Skua, Lestris cataractes. "Sometimes killed on our 

 coast, generally after storms." — J. G. The curved bill and strong 

 claws, or talons, of the skuas, enable them to tear and devour birds, 

 and fish, on which they in part subsist ; and since their habits are 

 predatory, they are accounted as the Raptores of the Natatores mari- 

 ni, or sea web-footed birds. Wherefore M. Illiger justly gave them 

 the generic title of tyrpk, the robber. 



Pomarine Skua, Lestris Pomarina. " In my collection, killed on 

 the Tees." — J. G. A rare winter visiter, and a native of the arctic 

 circle. 



Richardson's Skua, Lestris Richardsonii. This is the Stercora- 

 rius parasiticus of my Catalogue ' Hist. Stock, p. 13, No. 109, and 

 the arctic gull of Bewick. The black-toed gull of the last author 

 (Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 236) is the young of this species. Seen with 



