THE LONG-TAILED SKUA. 
403 
the two is similar, except in mere shade ; the grey of the adult being lighter and 
handsomer and the blackish plumage of a darker tint. It proved on dissection a 
male, as its plumage denoted ; the stomach was empty. 
The late Mr. G. Matthews, distinguishing this bird as the 
“ smaller long-tailed skua ” (and satisfying me of his correctness 
as to the species), remarked that he saw many in 1843 at different 
parts of the coast of Norway, but not farther north than the 
Yaagsfiord. There were numbers at the entrance of the Salten- 
fiord in August, but not so many during winter. 
In 1849 this species was met with by Captain May along the 
coast of that country from the commencement of the Arctic 
Circle to the north of Alten — towards and about the 7 0th degree 
of latitude it was quite common, and seemed more so than any 
other of the genus Lestris ; it was the most accessible of them all. 
Several were killed : one on the top of a mountain about 2,000 
feet above the sea, when the party were in pursuit of rein-deer ; it 
was believed to be a hawk at first sight, and was a fine adult male. 
About the Salten Maelstrom, where there were a great many fish 
and consequently great numbers of gulls, skuas were particularly 
frequent ; it depended on the presence of gulls whether or not 
any skuas would be seen. 
During his sporting tour of 1850, Capt. May remarked that “ the 
long-tailed skua seems to travel very far inland, as we shot one 
on the mountain in Lapland fully a hundred miles from the sea.” 
Although skuas frequent the coast pretty commonly, a few gene- 
ral notes on their occurrence may be added. They are, with the 
exception of the L. catarrhactes, whose dimensions mark its 
species, the most difficult of all our birds to be determined on 
wing, unless when adult, in which state unfortunately they are 
very rarely met with. This is owing to the three other species 
passing through much the same stages of plumage from youth to 
maturity, which, being attained, the comparative length of the two 
central tail-feathers is an admirable mark of distinction. On a 
close examination, the superior size of L. pomarinus to that of 
the other two always marks it at any age, but we must sometimes 
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