444 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
struck it with a stick while fighting with a common gull in a 
field in the parish of Kirkmahoe."* Robert Gray, writing in 
1871, says : "It has occurred in the Firth of Clyde and on 
the Ayrshire coast ; in Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbright 
and Dumfries-shires, but only, so far as I am aware, in the 
winter season. "f Two Pomatorhine Skuas were obtained 
in Gretna parish in 1892,{ and two immature examples 
were shot on October 26th and November 1st, 1898, between 
Annan and Gretna.§ Mr. R. Service states that on the morn- 
ing of October 29th, 1902, a fine immature bird of this species 
was shot as it passed Glencaple Quay, going up the Nith 
on the flood-tide. " It was sitting," he adds, " on the 
carcase of a Herring-Gull, which it was busy devouring. 
I found its stomach gorged with gull's flesh and feathers."|| 
In the autumn of 1907 a good many Pomatorhine Skuas 
were observed off the Enghsh coast of the Solway ; and 
Mr. W. Nichol writes me that on September 4th, 1907, he 
saw one in Dumfriesshire waters. 
It is only after persistent gales from the east or north 
that this species, driven out of its course, is found locally. 
It is a tolerably regular autumnal visitant to the eastern 
coasts of Great Britain, in some seasons being more numerous 
than in others. More than a year is required for the 
assumption of full adult plumage, and immature specimens 
are usually obtained. 
The Pomatorhine Skua nests "in Eastern Siberia, and 
thence eastwards across arctic America to Greenland,"^ 
and in winter it has been recorded from north AustraUa, 
Burmah, Japan, northern South America, and the waters of 
Europe down to the Mediterranean shores, and parts of the 
West African coast. 
* Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc.y January 6th, 1863. 
t Birds of West Scotland, 1871, p. 495. 
X Dumfries Courier and Herald, December 11th, 1908. 
§ Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1899, p. 52. 
II Op. cit., 1903, p. 51. 
^ Birds of Britain, 1907, p. 372. 
