RICHARDSON'S SKUA. 1 7 9
one also, in the plumage of the second year, near the same place,
September loth., 1852. Two at Hunstanton, on the 11th. of the same
month. One at Yarmouth, in immature plumage, about the 21th. of
October, 1844; and in 1847 four, two adult and two immature ones,
on different parts of the Norfolk coast. In Oxfordshire, several
individuals have occurred, at different times, in the neighbourhood of
Weston-on-the-Orcen. One adult bird was seen there on the 27th. of
June, 1837. The Hon. T. L. Powys has informed me of one of these
Skuas, an immature specimen, having been obtained near Oxford. In
Lincolnshire one at Sutton, in May, 1859, after the great storm of that
year. In Sussex, one was shot near Brighton, on the 23rd. of January,
1851. In Worcestershire, one on the Severn, near Worcester, about
the beginning of November, 1849; and one in Lancashire tin; same
year, near Fleetwood, on the 20th. of August. In Yorkshire, one was
picked up in the town of Halifax, in the West Riding. This species
is noticed occasionally on the coast, and sometimes in considerable
numbers, namely, young buds for the most part; so also in Durham,
Hampshire, Devonshire, and Lancashire. One at Battersea, near
London, and four at Kingsbury, in Middlesex, in the autumn of the
year 1842. In the county of Northumberland Mr. Sclby records the
occurrence of two at the Fern Islands, in the month of May. In
Cornwall one, at Roscmullion Head.
In Scotland Sir William Jardine observed this species in Suthcrlandshirc,
on the Frith of Durness, in the month of June, 1834. He also states
that it is frequently observed, late in the autumn, in the Frith of Forth.
So it is on the coast of Caithness, and in East Lothian is described as
plentiful.
I n Ireland individuals have occurred, but rarely, as near Belfast and
Dublin; one in May, 1847.
In Orkney two, in the plumage formerly described as a different species,
were shot in Sanday, in the winter of 1849-50; one subsequently.
These birds are very abundant in summer, and breed in Hoy and
several parts of the islands; as also in like manner, as already
mentioned, in the Hebrides and the Shetland Islands.
They arc migratory, some of the young birds advancing southwards
in the autumn. They arrive in Shetland in May.
When anxious for the safety of their nest or voting, these birds
exhibit the greatest solicitude, Hying, running, and fluttering about
with obvious care, or pretending to be lame, and endeavouring to decoy
intruders away. They appear to do well in confinement. They arc
said to have combats sometimes among themselves.
The Arctic Skua is also amazingly swift and powerful on the wing,