THE LONG-TAILED SKUA. 
405 
I saw three skuas in company, all of which were of a uniform 
blackish-brown colour. Mr. Byndman, who went farther out 
to sea than I did myself, saw one apparently larger than those 
just mentioned, and with white on the under plumage; our 
boatman said that “ two sizes ” of them were known to him, 
the larger being white beneath. A gentleman residing at Dun- 
drum, who shoots much about the bay, stated that “ three sizes 
of dirt-birds,” as he called them, frequent it, and that the largest 
is the whitest on the under parts : none of them is near the size 
of the L. catarrhactes. If my informant be correct respecting 
the “ three sizes,” and the largest being less than that species, 
they must be L.pomarinus, L. Richardsonii, and L. longicaudatus ; 
the white-bellied one of the greatest size will be the adult male 
of L. pomarinus, but this description of colour is no guide to 
species, as all the three pass through much the same changes of 
plumage, and the under parts are more or less white in the adult 
males of all. Mr. Montgomery noted his having seen three 
arctic gulls in the outer bay of Dundrum in August 1823. 
In crossing from the mainland to the island of Lambay, off the 
Dublin coast, on the 5th of June, 1838, we saw two skuas, which 
were so dark in colour as to appear entirely black ; they produced 
great consternation among a group of terns ( Sterna Jiirundo and 
S. arctica) by giving chase to them : their flight was amazingly 
rapid ; they literally “ bore down ” upon their weaker brethren. 
Skuas have been observed by Mr. S. Poole about the Saltee 
Islands, Wexford coast, in summer, and another gentleman states 
that they may be seen “ all the year ” off the eastern bar of 
Wexford Harbour. Specimens have been obtained on the coast 
of Waterford ;* Mr. B. Ball has observed young birds so early as 
the beginning of July about Youghal, and one species is con- 
sidered common on the Galway coast.f Skuas, or “ black gulls,” 
as they were called, about the size of the common gull, but “ ra- 
ther heavier in the wings, and having pointed tails,” have been 
observed in Tralee Bay in 1846, and again in January 1850. 
* Dr. Burkitt. 
f Mr. W. M'Calla. 
