Capture of Megalestris skua off the Coast of Cape Cod, Mass. — I 
shot a specimen of the Skua Gull, on Jaeger, September io, 1884, about 
e jo-ht miles east of Polluck Rip, as I was on a return trip fiom the fishing 
grounds. I had been tolling the Shearwaters for some time with livers 
taken from our freshly caught codfish, in hopes to attract the attention of 
other birds, and at the time had at least forty of the Greater and Sooty 
Shearwaters following; but the day was too hot and still for the birds to 
be actively flying about, and this was the only new or different kind 
called in ; but I felt more than paid for the trouble, and proud of the cap¬ 
ture, which I have carefully mounted with a view to add it to my collec- 
tion’in the State House, Topeka, Kansas. I did not observe the bird 
until it was well astern, and for fear of loosing it did not wait to note its 
flight and actions but dropped it on sight. 
The specimen was a female, and presents the following characters: 
Length, 22.00 in., stretch of wing, 54.00; wing, 14.75; tail, 6.00; tarsus 
2.40; middle toe and claw, 1.80; bill, 1.95; depth at base, -75 j plate 01 
cere, 1.03. Weight, 2 lbs. n oz. Color dark sooty plumbeous or slate, 
with pale chestnut markings on neck and back, which gives that portion 
a dull rusty look. Tail and remige s white at base, the white extend¬ 
ing out on the latter from J to 4 their length. (I cannot give the exact dis¬ 
tances, as the quills are in moult and not full grown.) Shafts of both white 
to near tips. The two central tail-feathers are not longer than the other 
tail-feathers.—N. S. Goss, Topeka , Kan. 
Auk, I, Oct., 1884. p. 
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The Great Skua, the ‘Sea-hen’ of the fishermen (Stercorarius 
skua), is occasionally seen on the fishing grounds at all seasons. 
It is never abundant, one, two, or three birds being generally 
seen at a time, and on very rare occasions perhaps a half dozen 
will gather around a vessel from which offal is being tin own out. 
1 have found them most common on the Grand Bank in autumn, 
and in the fall of 1875 I shot several fine specimens that were 
used as bait. I believe they occur far more frequently than is 
generally supposed. In some notes, on the habits and methods of 
capture of various species of sea-birds which are used tor bait, 
that I have prepared for publication in the Annual Report ot 
the U. S. Fish Commission, occasional mention is made ol the 
Great Skua. From November 27. 1878, to July 5. 1879, ‘Sea-hens’ 
were seen on four occasions. On the 17th of last October, while 
passing Nantucket South Shoal in the U. S. Fish Commission 
Steamship ‘Albatross,’ I saw a pair of these birds fly across the 
vessel’s.bow not more than 200 yards distant. 
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