438 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



for the authenticity of an adult Ivory Gull, in the possession of 

 Mr. Arthur Law of Silverdale, who obtained it from the person 

 who shot it. Neither the shooter nor Mr. Law was aware of 

 its specific identity until I happened to examine the bird. Mr. 

 Law has taken considerable pains to thoroughly overhaul its ante- 

 cedents, and the information supplied shows satisfactorily that 

 this Ivory Gull was shot on Cunswick Tarn about the year 

 1850. This tarn lies between the road from Kendal to Newby 

 Bridge and the road from Kendal to Bowness. It is therefore 

 within a short flight of the sea-coast. 



Order GA VIjE. Sub-family STERGORA RIINuE. 



GREAT SKUA. 



Stercorarius catarrhactcs (L. ). 



The Great Skua was added to the Lakeland list by T. C. 

 Heysham, who reported the occurrence in the following words : 

 'A fine old Skua Gull was brought to us alive on the 27th of 

 April [1833], which bad been captured on the preceding day, 

 on the coast, in the following very extraordinary manner : — A 

 fisherman, who had been examining his nets on the above-men- 

 tioned day, observed at some distance two large birds struggling 

 together, and upon arriving at the scene of combat, he found 

 this bird upon the point of killing a Herring Gull (Larus 

 argentatus), and so determined was the Skua to despatch its 

 prey, that the fisherman secured it without the least difficulty. 

 The stomach was quite empty, and the eggs in the ovary were 

 still very small. We cannot find that the Skua has been 

 captured in this vicinity before.' * I learn from Mr. J. B. 

 Hodgkinson that this Skua was killed on Rockliffe marsh. 

 Heysham appears to have met with this Skua again a few years 

 later. In the draft of a letter addressed to Yarrell, dated 

 October 19, 1837, Heysham adds: 'Since my return to Carlisle 

 I have procured a young specimen of the Common Skua, 2 the 



1 Phil. Mag., 1834, p. 339. 



2 Possibly Heysham referred to an Arctic Skua, and not to the Great 

 Skua. 



