Order GAVI.51.] 
[Fam. LARID^. 
STEECORAEIUS ANTAECTICUS. 
(SOUTHERN SKUA.) 
Lestris catarractes, Quoy et Gaim. Voy. de I’llranie, Zool. p. 137 (1824). 
Lestris antarcticus, Less. Traite d’Orn. p. 616 (1831). 
Stercorarius antarcticus. Gray, Gen. of B. iii. p. 653 (1846). 
Cataracta antarctica, Bonap. C. E. xlii. p. 770 (1856). 
Megalestris antarcticus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. ii. p. 206 (1857). 
$ ad. supra sordide cinerascenti-bruunea : subtus pallidior : scapularibus et tectricibus alarum paullo cinerascenti- 
albido variis : pileo colloque longitudinaliter pallid^ brunneo maculatis : collo postico flavicauti-bruuueo 
terminate : remigibus et rectrieibus obscure nigris versus basin albicantibus : rostro nigricanti-brunneo : 
pedibus nigris : iride nigra. 
Adult. General colour dull cinereous brown, darker on the upper parts, but relieved by touches of grey and light 
brown, especially on the upper wing-coverts and scapulars ; head and neck largely marked with pale brown; 
the feathers of the hind neck lanceolate in form, and with their terminal portion yellowish brown ; quills and 
tail-feathers dusky black, white in their basal portion ; in the closed wing the white is apparent on the pri- 
maries to the extent of an inch, but in the secondaries and tail-feathers it is concealed by the upper coverts. 
Irides and feet black ; bill blackish brown. Total length 25 inches ; wing, from flexure, 17 ; tail 7 ; bill, 
along the ridge 2-25, along the edge of lower mandible 2-5 ; bare tibia 1 ; tarsus 3 ; middle toe and claw 3‘1 ; 
hind toe and claw '5. 
Young. A bird of the year captured by Mr. Drew at the Wanganui heads differs in having the general plumage 
slaty brown, the scapulars only having terminal patches of light yellowish brown and whitish grey. There 
are no lanceolate feathers on the neck, and the basal white spot on the primaries is concealed by the over- 
lapping coverts. Bill uniform bluish black. 
Obs. The sexes are alike, but the amount of white on the primaries is variable, and some examples are more 
suffused w'ith brown on the neck and upper surface than others. A specimen from Dusky Bay has the white 
alular spots very conspicuous even in the closed wing, and one from Stewart^s Island is much lighter than 
ordinary examples, having the entire plumage tinged with brown, and the feathers of the nape and mantle 
broadly margined with yellowish brown. 
Mt original description of this fine Skua was taken from a specimen procured by Sir James Hector, 
who furnished me with the following note respecting it : — “ Female bird shot in Woodhen Cove, on 
the south side of Breaksea Sound. There was only one pair ; both were shot, but one skin was 
destroyed. Several others were seen at sea in company with the Albatros.” 
Numerous examples have since been obtained in both Islands. 
I had a live one in my possession for several years, and as this bird afforded me an opportunity of 
observing the habits of the species, under new conditions of life, I will venture to reproduce here, with 
a few additions, an account of it which I communicated to the Wellington Philosophical Society in 
September 1878 * : — 
“ The living example of this fine Skua-Gull, referred to in last year’s volume, is still an inhabitant 
* Trans. N.-Z. Inst. vol. xi. pp. 373, 374. 
