OCR Text |
Show 328 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERCORARIINJE. [Mar. 21, only those of the first and second primaries are white, those of the third and successive primaries being dark. I am indebted to Mr. R. Collett, of Christiania, for pointing out to me, some years since, this excellent distinction. The L. parasiticus of Linnaeus is therefore not A crepidatus, but the "Buffon's Skua;" and so is, according to my view, Catharacta parasiticus of Briinnich ; but it is needless to discuss the latter name, as it is out of date. Dr. Coues considers that the Larus crepidatus of Gmelin is in all probability based upon the young of the Pomatorhine Skua, to which Brisson gave the name of Stercorarius striatus. It is true that Gmelin (who translated from Latham) identifies S. striatus of Brisson with his L. crepidatus; but although S. striatus is certainly a young Pomatorhine, it was by no means easily recognizable by the naturalists of that day; and, moreover, Gmelin correctly cites in the first place Catharacta cepphus, Briinn., which is certainly this species, and in the third line refers to "Le Labbe ou Stercoraire " of Buffon, whose figure ('Planches Enluminees,' No. 991) is an excellent one, besides giving an accurate description of the tail-feathers (" rectricibus duabus intermediis longoribus ") ; he also refers it to the " Black-toed Gull" of the 'Brit. Zool.,' which is clearly this species. This would be quite sufficient to impose Gmelin's name of L. crepidatus upon "Richardson's Skua;" but the name did not actually originate with Gmelin. On referring to Hawkesworth's ' Voyages ' (1773), vol. ii. p. 15 (not vol. i. p. 15, as erroneously cited by Latham, and of course duly copied by Gmelin, without reference), we find in the narrative of Lieut. Cook's voyage in the 'Endeavour' that "on the 8th October 1768 (when a little to the south of the Cape-Verd Islands) Mr. Banks [afterwards Sir Joseph Banks] shot the Black-toed Gull not yet described according to Linnaeus's system ; he gave it the name of Larus crepidatus." The Black-toed Gull is described in Pennant's 'British Zoology,' vol. ii. p. 419 (1768); and plate 2 is an excellent representation of a "Richardson's Skua" of the year, the feet of this species at that age having the upper part of the webs yellowish, and the posterior portion black, giving the bird the appearance of being " shod" or " sandalled," whence Banks's somewhat quaint Latin rendering. I think it probable that the bird was identified from Pennant's description and figure ; for in the M S . in the British Museum of Solander, who was also in the ' Endeavour,' there is indirect evidence of that work having been on board ; but as Banks gave no description, it is perhaps safest to cite Gmelin as the authority for the name. It is now well known thr.t there are two very distinct plumages to be found in birds of this species, even in the same breeding-places-an entirely sooty form, and one with light underparts,-and that white-breasted birds pair with whole-coloured birds as well as with those of their respective varieties. If this species is " dimorphic," the offspring of one particoloured and one whole-coloured bird ought to resemble one or other of their parents without reference to sex ; my examination of upwards of a hundred specimens from widely different localities and in all stages inclines me to the belief that this is not • he case, and that the young of such union will be intermediate. |