STERCORARIUS LONGICAUDUS. 
Long*-tailed Skua. 
? Lanis crepidatus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 602. 
Stercorarius longicaudus, Vieill. Cuv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. xxxii. p. 157. — Briss, Orn., tom. vi. pp. 150, 155. 
Lestris parasiticus, ^emva. Man. d’Oi’n., 2“^'^ edit. tom. ii. p. 796. 
Buffoni, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 562. 
Stercorarius cepphus, Leach, Swains. Fann. Bor.-Amer., vol. ii. p. 432. 
Catharacta cepphus, Keys, nnd Bias. Wirb. Eur., p. 95. 
Cataractes longicaudatus, Macgill. Man. Nat. Hist. Orn., vol. ii. p. 258. 
Stercorarius cepphus. Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. hi. p. 653, Stercorarius, sp. 2. 
Buffoni, Cones, Proc. Acad. Sci. Philad., 1863, p. 136. 
The Arctic Bird, Edw. Nat. Hist, of Birds, part hi. pi. 148. 
Buffon's Skua of British Ornithologists. 
I ADOPT the specific term longicaudus for this elegant bird because it is a very appropriate appellation, 
and there is little doubt of its being the oldest that has been applied to it, the bird being sufficiently well 
described as Stercorarius longicaudus by Brisson in 1760 (see bis ‘ Ornithologie,’ vol. vi. p. 155). It is, 
undoubtedly, the “ Arctic Bird ” of Edwards, although bis figure represents the bird with yellow tarsi and 
black toes in lieu of the normal colouring. Adult birds with yellow tarsi are now before me, and parti- 
cularly a Cornish-killed example, sent for my inspection by Mr. Rodd, an examination of which seems 
to prove that the part of the legs which is grey in the living birds changes to dull yellow after being 
mounted and exposed to light. It will be recollected that in Richardson’s Skua the tarsi and toes are 
uniform in colour. 
It will be seen, on reference, that the foregoing species (S, parasiticus) is strictly an inhabitant of and 
breeds in the British Islands. The present bird, on the other hand, has never been known to incubate on 
any of them, although it has been frequently shot in spring off our coasts. Five splendid adult examples 
were sent to Mr. Leadbeater to be preserved, early in June 1860; they had been shot out of a large 
flight which appeared a few days previously off the coast of Ireland, and which was probably performing 
its annual northward migration. The period was remarkable for violent gales of wind and rough weather, 
which, by compelling the birds to adopt an unusual route, may account for the occurrence of so many 
individuals of a rare bird at one time. They were in the finest state of plumage ; and dissection proved 
that three were females and one at least a male. The latter was considerably smaller than the former ; 
and it will be interesting if ornithologists, in their future investigation of this group, can give any proof 
that the males of the members of this genus are constantly less than the females. Besides these five 
birds, I have been favoured by E. H. Rodd, Esq., with a specimen which w'as killed in Falmouth Harbour; 
1 have also seen a young individual in the collection of Mr. Fox at Falmouth ; and Mr. Gatcombe informs 
me that immature examples are not uncommonly seen near Plymouth in autumn. From the foregoing 
remarks it wall be perceived that the British Islands are beyond the limits of the area usually frequented 
by this species^ — a circumstance illustrative of the old adage that two of a trade can never agree ; the 
Arctic and Long-tailed Skuas, having habits in common, were not, indeed, likely to breed near each other : 
yet their nurseries are not very far apart ; for if w'e take a journey to the countries of Norway and Lapland, 
w'e shall find the bird breeding in abundance on many of tbeir wild fell-lands : here, then, as w'ell as in 
the extreme northern portions of America, Iceland, and Greenland, the bird finds a summer home. I 
take the liberty of quoting some interesting notes on this bird by Mr. Wheelwright, as seen by him in 
the Quickiock district of Lapland. 
“ Owing, as it was supposed, to the numbers of Lemmings which swarmed on these fells this summer, the 
Buffon’s Skua was unusually numerous in this neighbourhood, and I obtained more than thirty specimens 
of old birds, many eggs, and a few young. But, from all I could hear, this w'as a very unusual occurrence, and 
years may elapse before they will appear again in such numbers on these fells, though a year never passes 
without some being seen. It appears therefore that the northern stretch of this large fell-range is the summer 
home of this Skua, which in winter is occasionally met with as far south as the British Channel. I cannot 
hear of its breeding, however, further south than ‘ Peleekaisin,’ perhaps 100 miles south of Quickiock. 
The Laps appear to be well acquainted with this bird. We got our first nest on the 3rd of June, and 
continued to take fresh eggs until the end of the month. Except in one instance, I never saw more than 
two eggs in a nest. Once I found three ; and as I have taken a single egg from a nest which had been sat 
on, it seems that they do not always lay two, though we may take that to be the general number. The nest 
