338 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



ON THE NAMES OF THE TWO SPECIES OF 

 SKUA WITH POINTED TAIL-FEATHERS. 



By Dr. Einar Lonnberg, C.M.Z.S., &c. 



Questions of nomenclature are often sore points to touch, 

 but I think that most ornithologists will accept the following 

 notes endeavouring to settle the names of the two species of 

 Skua characterized by the pointed central tail-feathers. There 

 has long prevailed a great confusion* in the names of these 

 two species, which seems to still continue. The name parasiticus 

 has been used sometimes for the Common Skua, at other times 

 for the Long-tailed Skua, in accordance with different authorities. 

 The name parasiticus is first given by Linnaeus. In ' editio 

 decima,' 1758 (p. 136), as well as in 'editio duodecima,' 1766 

 (p. 226), we find a bird named Larus parasiticus, with the 

 following diagnosis : " L. rectricibus duabus intermediis longis- 

 simis." These words may be just as well applied to the one as 

 to the other of the two species, for both have the two central 

 tail-feathers prolonged, although in a different degree. As no 

 conclusion can be drawn with certainty from this diagnosis, it 

 remains to be seen whether any other information is given by 

 the author ; and this is provided in a most satisfactory manner. 

 When Linnaeus described the habits of his Larus parasiticus, he 

 used the following characterizing words : " Piscaturae ineptus 

 (resp. ed. xii. inepta ipsa) agitat congeneres vomituque ejectum 

 (resp. ed. xii. ut vomitu ab iis ejectum) cibum arripit (resp. 

 arripiat)." It is evident that these words referred to the Common 

 Skua and its parasitic habits, and cannot be applied to the Long- 

 tailed Skua. But the matter is still further elucidated by the 

 quotations of Linnaeus. In the first place, he quotes himself in 

 ' Fauna Suecica, ' and in ' It. W.got.' — that is, ' Wastgota-Resa ' 



* Prof. Newton says, in his valuable work, 'A Dictionary of Birds,' 

 "Their nomenclature is an almost bewildering puzzle." 



