268 
RICHARDSONS SKUA. 
dant than any of the others. Jura and Isla are 
noted by Pennant ; many parts of the Orkneys by 
the latest voyagers there ; the old recorded Holm 
of Eddy, in Hoy, being still one of the more fa- 
vourite resorts ; and by Messrs. Dunn and He wit- 
son it was found on the Ross in Shetland. It 
breeds on these islands in small colonies, some- 
times selecting the summits of the hills, at others 
the low and marshy grounds, making the nest of 
dried grasses, &c. The eggs are somewhat similar 
to those of the true gulls. In Norway, Mr. Hewit- 
son found the Skua breeding in pairs, each taking 
possession of its separate island. It visits Massa- 
chusetts and Maine during winter.* 
In three specimens of this bird before us, all 
shot in the Firth of Forth, one has the entire 
plumage of a greyish clove-brown, paler beneath, 
the edges and bend of the wing only being white ; 
the auriculars and sides of tho neck slightly tinted 
with shining sienna-yellow. In the second, the 
crown, back, wings, tail, and thighs, aro dark clove- 
brown, the back of the neck and all the under parts 
white. In both these birds the centre tail-feathers 
exceed the others by two inches and a half; in the 
last the legs and feet are completely black, in the 
former slightly pied. Tho third specimen is in the 
young state, or Black-toed Gull, where the legs are 
pied and the half of the feet are yellowish white 
with a band of black in front. The head, neck, 
bend of the wing, and all the under parts, are wood 
* Audubon. 
