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Show 324 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERCORARIIN^. [Mar. 21, the south of the Equator. The affinities of this well-defined form decidedly with S. catarrhactes, and not with S. antarcticus ; it is, indeed, a somewhat slighter bird than the former, and remarkable for its rich cinnamon-coloured underparts, wing-coverts and axillaries. The presence of this species on the shores of the South Pacific may be accouuted for by the cool stream of water, about 300 miles wide, and known as Humboldt's current, which runs northwards from the Straits of Magellan, along the coasts of Chili and Peru. This cool band abounds in fish; and in consequence of these altered conditions we find there at least six species of Gull, some of them numerically abundant; whereas on the east coast of America there is a noticeable scarcity of Gulls within the tropics. Where Gulls are found, the stout heavy forms of Skua can pick up a living ; their more lightly formed congeners can rob the Terns, and the two long-tailed species are more than a match in flight for the Arctic Tern ; but against that family the Great Skuas would have little chance; and hence, probably, their more restricted range. If this species should prove to have its breeding-places in the North Pacific, it is somewhat singular that it should never have been observed north of the Equator, and that the only specimen of a great Skua recorded from the northwest coast, namely at Monterey, California, lat. 44° N., is clearly from the description given, S. catarrhactes. If, on the other hand, it should prove to be a denizen of the southern hemisphere, it is still more remarkable that we should find in such close proximity to S. antarcticus a form whose affinities are with S. catarrhactes. In order of arrangement it should follow the latter species, although in the present case I have taken it last for convenience of treatment. STERCORARIUS POMATORHINUS. Stercorarius striatus, Brisson, Orn. vi. p. 152, pl. 13. fig. 2 (juv.), 1760. Larus keeask (part.), Latham, Ind. Orn. p. 818 (1790). Larus parasiticus, Meyer & Wolf, Tasch. D. Vog. ii. p. 490, descrip. p. 492 (1810), nee auctorum. Catarracta parasita, var. camtschatica, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-As. p. 312(1811). Lestris pomarinus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 514 (1815) ; Audubon, B. A m . vii. p. 186, pl. 451 (1844); Ross, in Parry's 4th Voy. App. p. 196 (1828), fide Newton. Stercorarius pomarinus, Vieillot, N. Diet. Hist. Nat. xxxii. p. 158 (1819) ; De Selys-L. F., Belg. p. 155 (1842); Gray, Gen. of B. iii. p. 653 (1849); Coues, Proc. Phil. Ac. 1863, p. 129 ; B. Ross, Nat. Hist. Rev. 1862, p. 289 (Gt. Slave Lake, very rare); Wright, Ibis, 1864, p. 151 (Malta); Gurney, Audersson's B. of Damara Land, p. 357 (1872). Cataractespomarina, Steph. in Shaw's G. Zool. xiii. p. 216 (1826). Cataractes pomarinus, Selby, 111. Brit. Orn. ii. p. 517 (1832). Lestris sphariuros, Brehm, Vog. Deutsch. p. 718 (1831). Lestris striatus, Eyton, C. Brit. Birds, p. 51 (1836). Lestris pomarina, Faber, Prod. Island. Orn. p. 104 (1822) ; Sw. & |
