152 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Local Names for Wildfowl.— "Pijlstaart" (p. 106) is common Dutch 

 for Pintail, just as its diminutive " Pijlstaartje " is for the Long-tailed 

 Titmouse ; but I believe the former is also applied by Dutch sailors to 

 birds of the genus Phaethon, and hence the Pylstaart Island, or Islands, 

 of our maps. " Pellstart " would of course be an English rendering of the 

 word in its first signification, though perhaps it would be more appropriately 

 written " Pilestart." Pilet, which M. Rolland explains to be petit javelot, 

 petite fleche, is the form it takes in French, while Pfeihchivanz is the 

 German equivalent. I have included Pylstaart in my ' Dictionary of 

 Birds,' as apparently applied originally to the long-tailed Skuas, but 

 without referring to it as a name for the Pintail, which I ought to have 

 done, as its application in that sense is probably the oldest. I may add 

 that " Pilestart" is given by Giraud ('Birds of Long Island,' Index, p. 396), 

 with a reference to "Pintail." The Dutchmen who settled what is now 

 New York may have taken it over, or it may have been a good English 

 name, only one that did not happen to find its way into print until after its 

 arrival in America, as seems to have been the case with " Oystercatcher." — 

 Alfred Newton (Magdalene College, Cambridge). 



Distribution of Pomatorhine Skua in Summer, — The following obser- 

 vations on the summer distribution of the Pomatorhine Skua in parts of the 

 North Atlantic and Greenland Seas refer to a voyage made by me last year. 

 On June 30th, between Bear Island and the South Cape of Spitsbergen, in 

 about lat. 75° 10', an adult Stercorarius pomatorJdnus came within thirty 

 yards of the yacht. During the following ten days, passed on the shores 

 and waters of Western Spitsbergen, I did not observe this species. Its 

 rarity on the western side of Spitsbergen has been referred to by Professor 

 Newton and others, though the Rev. A. E. Eaton found them in numbers 

 during August in Hinlopen Straits, and off Low Island, on the north of 

 Spitsbergen. During the return to Norway, I saw nothing of this species, 

 though Professor Newton remarks that he saw them in numbers between 

 Bear Island and Tromso in the latter part of the month of August. Still 

 later in the year it was found equally plentiful by Dr. Malmgren in much 

 the same latitude. On July 15th we were steering a course from Roost 

 Lighthouse, on the south-western islet of the Loffodens, for Fuglo in 

 Faeroe. In long. 11° E., and in about lat. 66° 40' N., Fulmars, which do 

 not seem to frequent the inland waters of the Norwegian fiords, appeared in 

 some numbers, and with them Pomatorhine Skuas. The weather was 

 lovely, and we were running under steam and with all square sail set. 

 During July 16th and 17th we kept our course, and my log for these two 

 days reads : — " Only Fulmars and a few Pomatorhine Skuas accompanying 

 us, several of the latter in full adult plumage, showing conspicuous twisted 

 tail-feathers." Early in the morning of July 18th, Fuglo was sighted 

 through the gloom. Fulmars and the usual rock-birds and Gulls of the 



