BRITISH BIRDS 



THE POMATORHINE SKUA. 

 Stercorarius pomatorhinus (Temminck). 

 Plate 75. 



The Pomatorhine, or Twist-tailed Skua, visits our shores more or less regularly 

 in autumn, sometimes in large flocks, and appears more often off the eastern coasts 

 than in other parts of Great Britain. In summer it inhabits the Arctic regions of 

 Asia and America, and moves southwards in winter, roving at that time as far as 

 the Mediterranean, South Africa, Australia, and South America. 



The two eggs, greenish-brown in ground-colour, and blotched with blackish- 

 brown, are laid in a slight hollow in the mossy ground. 



This species, like the Arctic or Richardson's Skua, is dimorphic, exhibiting in 

 both sexes a darker and lighter phase of plumage, as shown in the plate. 



It lives by plundering its neighbours, and often hunts down and kills smaller or 

 wounded birds, and also mammals, especially the lemming. 



RICHARDSON'S SKUA. 

 Stercorarius crepidatus (J. F. Gmelin). 

 Plate 75. 



This bird, also known as the Arctic Skua, is the most abundant of its kind in 

 the British Islands, breeding not only in the Shetlands, Orkneys, and the Hebrides, 

 but on the mainland of Scotland as well. In autumn, during migration, it is 

 dispersed along our coasts, chiefly on the eastern shores of England and Scotland, 

 and on the western side of the latter country. 



The nest is situated among grass and heather in wet moorland places, and 

 contains two eggs, in ground-colour a dull olive, blotched with brown. 



The birds fiercely attack any intruder on their domain, and, being predatory in 

 their habits, like the other Skuas, they chiefly live by robbing weaker Gulls. 



There are two forms of this species, one with the throat and under-parts light, 

 and the other entirely dark, as shown in the picture. Birds are found breeding 

 indiscriminately in both these phases of plumage. 



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