326 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERCORARIIN^E. [Mar. 21, 



the Boganida, in Siberia, and was the first to give a figure of the 

 egg ; and it is said to breed in societies from Bjornenas, north of 

 Egedesminde, to the northward (Newton, B. of Greenland). There 

 must, however, be many other breeding- places within the arctic circle; 

 for the species is abundant in the north, and is not uncommon on 

 our coasts, principally on the west, in autumn. Passing along the 

 coasts of Western Europe, it occurs as a straggler in the interior 

 of the continent, and visits the Mediterranean as far east as Sicily 

 and Malta ; goes down the west coast of Africa, where Capt. Shelley 

 obtained it off Fantee ; crosses the equator, and reaches Walwich 

 Bay in lat. 23° S., where Andersson shot two specimens, one of 

 which, a bird of the year, is in my collection. With this proof of 

 its traversing the tropics it is no longer remarkable that it should 

 have been obtained at Moulmein, on the coast of Tenasserim, in 

 lat. 10° 22' N., by Major Tickell, as recorded by Mr. Blyth ; the 

 singular thing was, that the specimen in question should prove to be 

 an adult and not a bird of the year, like all the other visitors to the 

 south which I have examined*. There is a specimen in the plumage 

 of the first year in the collection of Messrs. Salvin and Godman, 

 obtained by Mr. Cockerell off Cape York, the northern extremity of 

 Australia. On the east coast of America it occurs from Labrador 

 as far south as New York and Pennsylvania, beyond which it has 

 not yet been traced. On the west coast there is no positive record 

 beyond two instances on the Prybilov Islands ; but Mr. Gervase 

 Mathew's description of a Skua observed by him at Valparaiso and 

 Coquimbo seems to refer to this species, respecting whose winter 

 range we must wait for further details. 



Stercorarius crepidatus. (Richardson's Skua.) 



Stercorarius (Le Slercoraire), Brisson, type of genus Sterco- 

 rarius. 



Catharacta cepphus, Briinn. Orn. Bor. p. 36 (1764). 



Catharacta coprotheres, Briinn. Orn. Bor. p. 36 (1/64), dark form. 



The Black-toed Gull, Pennant's Brit. Zool. ii. p. 419, tab. 2 

 (1768). 



Larus crepidatus, Banks, Hawkesworth's Voy. ii. p. 15 (1773) ; 

 Gmeiin, Syst. Nat. p. 602 (1788); Latham, Ind. Orn. p. 319 (1790); 

 Meyer & W. Tasch deutsch. Yog. ii. p. 493 (1810); Scoresby, 

 Arctic Reg. i. p. 534 (1820). 



"Lams parasiticus, Linn." Boddaert, T. des PI. Enl.no. 991 (nee 

 Linn.). 



Lestris crepidatus, Tern. Man. d'Orn. p. 515 (1815). 



Stercorarius crepidatus, Vieillot, N. Diet. Hist. Nat. xxxii. p. 155 

 (1819). 



Lestris parasitica, F. Faber, Prodr. Is. Orn. p. 105 (1822); Brehm 



* Since writing the above I have had the opportunity of referring to Major 

 Tickell's coloured drawing of this identical specimen, which proves it to be an 

 immature bird after all I Mr. Blyth's error in stating it to be an adult was 

 doubtless owing to the want of anv specimens for comparison at that time. 



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