feathers edged with white. When first taken lint one ot the elongated leathers remained in the tail, and
this was hist shortly uEter. The three others raptured at I he same time were, as previously mentioned, birds
or the year; one escaped, owing to its wing not having been clipped, hut the other two remained perfectly
healthy in confinement till the 19th of September, 1S82, when both wen' unfortunately drowned. Prom
their earliest singes oue of these captives was considerably darker in colouring, and this distinction was
retained through every chango till the end. When ouce a suitable groundwork for their enclosure
had been obtained (turf grown on a foundation of chalk) they were not troubled with corns or swellings
on their feet, and the old wounds from which they snlfered at first sp.'cdily disappeared. The cries
and screams they uttered were most amusing, and the names of Punch and duly were bestowed on
account of their extraordinary vocal performances. Any wandering proprietor of the old familiar show of
Poach would have been wild with jealousy at the "Toby, Toby, Toby," ending with a prolonged
-i[ i I and a whistle, which, when excited, one or the other of these strange birds would occasionally
give vent to. The captives thrived well on herrings, mackerel, or sprats, their actions while feeding
1 icing exceedingly singular. If oue happened to seize a portion of food too large to be swallowed with ease,
be would call loudly, when his companion at once ran rapidly up, and clutching huld of one end of
the tlsh, each would tug lustily till the whole was divided, when the parts were consumed by tin' pair
¡11 the most amicable manner. This curious pel forma nee was uow and then repeated half a dozen times
during the same meal.
Though l'omatorhine Skuas are considerably more powerful than the Arctic, I believe it is seldom
they pursue any of the larger dulls when iu quest of prey, Kittiwakes and the various species of
Terns being most frequently attacked by both the Arctic and Poniutnrbine. On one occasion during
the autumn of 1S71, I watched an adult Hying in such a manner as to give the impression that
it was in chase of a Heron along the shore near Canly Hay; the awkward long-legged wader was
evidently terribly seared, shrieking and vainly attempting to avoid the swoop of the dasbiug sea-bird. As
far as I was able to ascertain, there was little cause for alarm, as the Skua passed rapidly on, apparently
only endeavouring to hustle the Heron out of his course.
As "black " or " dirty black Allans,'' Skuas are spoken of by most of the Scotch fishermen ; occasionally
I heard this name made use of by a few of the men sailing in the east-coast luggers out of Yarmouth and
Lowestoft, though to the majority they are known as " Mollterries "*. Along the Oornlsh coast they
are usually called "Tom Harries," while the seafaring fraternity belonging to the Sussex ports bestow
other titles on these robbers; the names they give, however, being derived from entirely mistaken ideas
concerning the bnbits of the be . -. arc not worth recording.
While in correspondence with the light-ships tiff the cast coast in 1872 and the following year, I ascertained
that (lulls occasionally came in contact with tin- lamps, though it was by no means a common occurrence for
any species, with the exception of Skuas, to lie taken iu this manner. The mate of the 1 Neunrp ' informed me
that he had once found as many as three Skuas on deck during his watch—one of which, a large browncoloured
bird, probably a Great Skua, mistaken iu the dark for a row I while lying disabled in a corner, inflicted
a most severe bile on his hand. Prom all I could learn, the species usually taken were cither Pomatorhine or
Arctic, iu I he various immature st ige-. of plumage.
During the autumnal migration I repeatedly remarked thai the order in which these Skuas passed southward
was as follows :—birds in the intermediate stages appeared first, followed a few weeks later by the fullplumaged
adults, while the juvenilis invariably brought up the rear. Though a few adults, whose presence has
been duly recorded in my notes, pass early in the autumn, they do not form a tenth part of the individuals
observed otfour coasts at thai season.
POMATORHINE SKUA.
A few words descriptive of the Plates may perhaps he of service :—
In Plate 1. are figured two young birds of the year, representing the light and dark forms, shot at sea oil
Yarmouth on the ilth of November, 1879.
The state of plumage shown by the light form of this Skua during the third year is given in
figure 1, Plate II., the sketch having been taken from one of the captives towards the close of the summer
of 1SS1. This specimen corresponds precisely with the Skua previously referred to us shot by the master
of a fishing-lugger off the Yorkshire coast in Ootober 1S72. During all the years I have knocked about
in the North Sea no! a single Skua in a wild state exhibiting this stage of plumage has come under my
observation ; il is probable that the young birds, after reaching their winter-haunts (wherever they may
be), seldom visit our shores during the two following years, figures 2 and II iu the same Plate are also
taken from the birds kept in confinement, and show the slate of plumage at the lime of their death i;19th of
September, 1S82), when a few months over three years of age. Pomatorluue Skuas in imperfect plumage, as
pre* iously slated, are usually met with off the Scotch coast somewhat in advance of th iture birds, many
that are seen in August bearing a strong res a thinner to those represented by figures 2 and It.
The dark and light forms of the adults are shown in Plate III., the former ha\ big been obtained along
the shore near Yarmouth on October 90th, 1870, and the latter at sea off Caister the Following week.