SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 153 



Faeroes became numerous, but we had parted with the Pomatorhines, and 

 none followed us beyond sight of those islands. Leaving Thorshavn on the 

 morning of July 19th, our course was laid to pass a little to the westward of 

 Foula. When we had left the Faeroes some forty miles behind us, numbers 

 of Pomatorhine Skuas constantly came close to the ship, as many as eight 

 or ten being around us at the same time. The majority were birds in 

 immature plumage, but several were fine old adults. About 11 p.m. we 

 had a glimpse of Foula through the haze and gloom, but some hours before 

 that the Fulmars, which had been our companions for twenty degrees of 

 latitude, bade us farewell; nor did we see any more of the Pomatorhines. 

 It seems to me that this oceanic distribution of S. pomatorhinus during 

 summer is an interesting fact in the life-history of the bird. I do not 

 suppose that the Pomatorhines we met with in the North Atlantic, between 

 the Loffodens and the Faeroes, in the middle of July, were birds returning 

 south on migration. The majority of these birds were immature, and it 

 may be that, having no breeding instincts to fulfil, the young of this species 

 pass the summer months in scouring the ocean. Why adult birds should 

 accompany them when we might expect these to be at their breeding- 

 quarters is not so easy to account for. Why does this species absolutely 

 avoid the Faeroes in summer, for I never heard of an example being pro- 

 cured there except in autumn or winter? and why should it be abundant 

 in July between the Faeroes and the Shetlands, and only known from the 

 latter islands by a few examples procured in winter ? We know that this 

 species obtains its food partly by robbing Gulls and Terns, but in that 

 great spread of water between the Loffodens and the Faeroes I did not see 

 a single Gull or Tern for the Pomatorhine Skua to rob. Under such 

 circumstances on what does it subsist? — H. W. Feilden. 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 



Linnean Society of London. 



March 7th, 1895.— Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.R.S., President, in the chair. 



Mr. A. Henry was admitted a Fellow. 



On behalf of Sir Joseph Hooker, the Secretary exhibited a bronze medal 

 struck in honour of the late Alphonse de Candolle. 



Mr. J. E. Harting exhibited a remarkable head and horns of Capra 

 cegagrus, recently obtained by Mr. F. C. Selous in Asia Minor, and made 

 remarks on the geographical distribution of this and other allied species. 



Mr. G. F. Scott Elliot, who had been absent from England since Sept. 

 1893, on a botanical exploration of Mount Ruwenzori and the country to 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XIX. — APRIL, 1895. N 



