54 
HISTORY OF 
To our countryman Edwards, therefore, belongs the credit of 
having first figured this bird, and to Brisson that of naming it. 
The Pomarine Skua, in the adult state of its plumage, has the 
head, down to just below the eye, dark brown, approaching to 
black, the dark marking ending in a point on the back of the 
head. Sides of the neck, light straw colour; becoming darker 
on the throat, and hind neck. Lower plumage, straw coloured, 
thickly traversed with transverse bars of brown ; the bars and 
ground colour becoming fainter towards the belly, which is 
pure white. Whole of the upper plumage, together with the 
wings and tail, of a dark umber brown ; bill, yellow, pointed 
with black ; legs and feet, deep black ; the two centre tail 
feathers are about two and a half inches longer than the rest. 
The young bird, before the autumnal moult, is of a brown 
colour, with the tip of the feathers and under plumage rather 
lighter. Length, fifteen inches. 
Mr. John Gould, in his work on the European Birds, informs 
us, that he has procured these birds in considerable abundance 
from every part of our coasts, while in the performance of their 
migrations. It is chiefly, however, an inhabitant of the Arctic 
Circle. 
