PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
*51 
mentions in another place a bird shot at Tram ore, county Waterford, now 
in the collection of T. W. Warren, Esq. ; and in comparing it with my 
specimens, I find them identical, save in respect of plumage ; but, as if to increase 
the difficulty in discrimination, Mr. Thompson, in a note, remarks that Bewick’s 
black-toed gull is Lestris Richardsonii; but its plumage, and that only is men¬ 
tioned in the manuscript, (no dimensions being given), will serve for the immature 
Lestris parasiticus almost as well. Among such conflicting statements of eminent 
men, little weight should be attached to any opinion of mine ; were I to give it, 
I would say they are the young of the long-tailed Skua—from the fact of their 
identity with those specimens named by Mr. Thompson ; from their being appa¬ 
rently the more plentiful species ; from their being obtained from nearly the same 
locality on the eastern coast; and from the fact of the adult long-tailed Skua being 
found on the western coast, and an immature specimen occurring shortly after in 
the same quarter : still, being aware of the fallibility of human judgment, I would 
be unwilling to mark them as such in a public collection. I shall now close by 
quoting a paragraph from Mr. Thompson’s summary of the genus Lestris—“Without 
the presence of gulls or terns which the Skua makes his caterer—they are not to 
be seen unless accidentally. Although we cannot admire their predatory cha¬ 
racter, they are very interesting birds, from the great power and rapidity of flight 
which they display. As they come sweeping down on the large gulls it is extraor¬ 
dinary to observe these drop their prey, which, apparently, with the next second of 
time, is appropriated by the robber Skua. These birds present a singular subject 
for contemplation in being ‘ born robbers,’ endowed by nature with every faculty 
that will enable them to bear off and live upon booty seized from or dropped through 
fear by their most nearly allied species, the gulls and terns.” There are three beau¬ 
tiful specimens in the Society’s Museum of Richardson’s Skua, and one of the 
Pomarine. I need not refer to the fifth species, Stercorarius ceppus of Leach, as it 
has not yet, as far as my information extends, been found in Great Britain. 
Mr. Andrews said that the thanks of the society were due to Dr. Earran for 
bringing before the meeting this evening such a fine series of the British species 
of the genus Skua, and especially for obtaining, through the kindness of Dr. Mel¬ 
ville, of Galway, the exceedingly beautiful specimens of the mature bird of the rare 
3pecies parasiticus. He had no doubt, from the characters shown by one of the 
specimens in the immature state, which Dr. Farran had lately obtained, that it was 
the young state of L. parasiticus. There were great differences of opinion as to 
the true characteristics of L. parasiticus. The specimen before the meeting clearly 
agreed with the description of Lestris Buffonii, Boie—bill straight, notched ; middle 
tail feathers long and gradually tapering; tarsus almost smooth. L. parasiticus 
Boie—bill straight, broad at base, entire ; middle tail feathers very long, and carry 
the breadth to within one inch and a-half of the termination, where they are abruptly 
narrow, and become slender and acute at the point; inhabits the Arctic Seas ; 
exceedingly rare on the shores of North America and Europe, the young being- 
only occasionally seen in the more temperate parts. It was remarkable that the 
young, or immature state of several of our rare Pelagic birds had annually been 
met with on the western coasts of Ireland, while the mature birds which frequented 
more northern latitudes were rarely seen. The several species of the Skua breed 
in the Faroe Islands, and while the old or mature birds seldom came more southerly, 
the young birds wandered extensively, particularly to more temperature shores ; 
hence the immature state of those birds being of more frequent occurrence. TheL. ca- 
taractes was the most powerful of this family, and most generally kept at a distance 
from the land. Off the Blasket Islands I have observed those birds in pairs, where 
they are the terror of the sea-gull tribe, and even the sea-eagle shuns their persecut¬ 
ing attacks. The fishermen observed to me that they had seen the fierce and in¬ 
trepid peregrine falcon, which breeds on the Tiraght rock, put these birds to flight. 
Doctor Kinahan confirmed the observations made by Mr. Andrews as to the 
more extensive migrations of young than old birds. It appeared as though the young 
birds were not so well fitted for enduring the severity of the winter. He instanced 
some remarkable examples which came under his observation during his recent 
voyage, bearing out those views, especially in reference to the various species of 
Albatross, off Cape Horn, and in the southern latitudes. 
