TWIST-TAILED SKUA.
LESTRIS POMARINUS, Temm.
Lestris pomarinus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 514 (1815) ; Macg.
v. p. 487.
Lestris pomarina, Naum. x. p. 487.
Stercorarius pomatorhinus, Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 668; Dresser,
viii. p. 163.
Labbe Pomarin, French; Mittlere Raubmuve, German.
This is a species that I have only seen alive in our
aviary at Lilford, and I am therefore unable to give any
details as to its natural habits from personal observation.
It is said to have been found breeding in the arctic
regions of Asia and America; but in Europe it is only
known as an irregular autumnal visitor. On our British
coasts its appearance is extremely uncertain; but it
occasionally appears in vast numbers, generally on our
eastern sea-board, to which district, however, its visits
are by no means exclusively confined, and there are
many recorded instances of its occurrence inland.
The examples from which my Plates were taken were
killed from a fishing-smack off Great Yarmouth in the
first week of November 1890, and sent up to London
" in the flesh " by Mr. George Smith, of the first-named
port.