256 
LARINiE. CATARACTES. 
the contents of their gullet. The nest is made among the 
grass, and the eggs, generally two, sometimes three, are olive- 
brown, spotted with dusky. In Foula, it was formerly pro- 
tected, on account of the benefit it conferred by driving off 
eagles and ravens ; but of late years, the rapacity of bird- 
collectors has greatly thinned its numbers in Shetland. It is 
easily tamed, becomes familiar, and even shews some affec- 
tion toward its feeder. 
Skua. Bonxie, 
Larus Catarractes, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 226.— Larus Catar- 
ractes,Lath. Xnd. Ornith. ii. 818. — — Lestris Catarractes, Temm. 
Man. d’Ornith. ii. 729, iii. 494.— Cataractes Skua, Brown 
Pirate-bird, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, v. 
312. Cataractes pq marines. Pomarine Pirate-bird. 
Bill an inch and three-fourths in length, tarsus two inches, 
very rough behind; middle tail-feathers broad, rounded, twist- 
ed to a side at the end, an inch longer than the next ; bill dull- 
green, dusky toward the end ; tibia, toes, webs, and lower 
half of tarsus black, the upper half light-blue. Upper part 
and sides of head brownish-black ; upper neck all round yel- 
lowish-white, lower white barred with brownish-black; breast 
white ; sides, abdomen, and lower and upper tail-coverts, 
white barred with black ; back and wings brownish-black ; 
quills and tail-feathers white at the base ; lower wing-coverts 
barred with white and dusky. Young with the bill greenisli- 
blue, at the end black ; feet greyish-blue ; toes and webs 
whitish at the base, dusky at the end ; head and neck dull 
brown, the feathers margined with paler ; upper parts dark 
brown, with reddish semilunar bands ; lower parts greyish- 
brown, spotted and undulated with light red ; middle of abdo- 
men, upper and lower tail-coverts, barred with dusky andreddish. 
Male, 20, 46, 14, 1*, 2*, 1}*, T V 
This species, which breeds in the Arctic regions, and ap- 
pears to be more plentiful in America than in Europe, is sel- 
dom or never seen on our coasts in the adult state, although 
young individuals are not extremely rare in winter, and may 
generally be observed wherever gulls are collected in pursuit 
of herrings or shoals of other fishes. I have seen it thus in 
the Prith of Porth, and it has been met with as far as the 
southern coasts of England. 
Great variations are observed in the colours of the plumage, 
which have not yet been referred to any determinate rule. 
Lestris pomarinus, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. ii. 793, iv. 495. 
Cataractes pomarinus, Pomarine Pirate, MacGillivray, Brit. 
Birds, v. 
