P O M E K I N E S K U A.
POMERINE GULL. POMERINE JAGER.
f.t stris pomarinus,
" stria!'us,
Cataracies pomarinus,
JENYNS. GOULD. TEMMINCK.
EYTON.
SELRY.
Lestris—A pirate vessel Pomarinus- ?
T H E Pomerine Skua visits the shores of France and Holland, and
one or two arc seen every year on the Swiss lakes in the winter.
I t conies from the north, and is known in Denmark, Sweden, and
Norway, where it breeds. Iceland, and in the Faroe Islands.
I n America it is not uncommon in Hudson's Bay, Newfoundland,
Greenland, and the Arctic regions generally.
A specimen occurred in Derbyshire near the village of Burnaston,
September 23rd., 1854: it was driven about, and knocked down by
some Books. Others in Norfolk, at Blakeney, in December, 1847.
The species is of occasional occurrence along the coast, but mostly
in the autumn, and generally in the immature state of plumage. One
was taken in Sussex in the village of Ovingdean, in October, 1844.
' I t had struck down a White Gull, which it would not quit; it was
kept alive above a fortnight, and then died. The very first day of
its captivity it (is said to have) devoured twenty-five Sparrows. Once
it escaped, and immediately attacked a Duck, which it held till recaptured.'
Another was obtained at Brighton; one in Kent, at Dover;
and one in Lancashire, at Liverpool. In Cornwall, an adult example
of this species was killed near Penzance, in Mount's Bay, the beginning
of October, 1851, a second at Budockvean, and a third at
Falmouth. In Devonshire it is occasionally met with.
I n Oxfordshire, one occurred near Oxford in February, 1834, and
another in November, 1848. One in the collection of the Rev. Dr.
Thackeray, of King's College, Cambridge, is stated by the Rev.