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Show 320 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERCORARIlN^. [Mar. 21, become the filamentous feathers of the neck. The under wing-coverts and the axillaries are always sooty, with, at most, but very few and ill-defined russet markings. I have examined the interesting melanism belonging to Mr. J. H . Gurney, jun., figured by Mr. Dresser in his 'Birds of Europe ;' it was obtained in October, and the first primary on each wing has not yet attained its full length. From the crescentic edges to the dorsal feathers, seen on holding it to a side light, from the absence of acuminate feathers on the neck, and from the weak bill (which is much thinner than in Mr. Dresser's plate), I have little doubt of this example being a bird of the year ; this impression is confirmed by the satin-like appearance of the primaries and upper parts, which is very different from any thing I have ever observed in birds whose plumage has undergone any wear. The range of this species is the most restricted of any member of the family which breeds in the northern hemisphere. It has not been observed in Spitzbergen; and its most northern breeding-place within the Arctic circle is at the Lofoten Islands, off the coast of Norway; thence it is found nesting west and southwards to Iceland, the Faroes and the Shetland Islands. It is not recorded from the Baltic, or from the White Sea. Seebohm and Harvie Brown did not observe it in their recent expedition to the mouth of the Petchora; nor did Middendorf find it in N. Siberia, where the other three European species breed. Von Baer's identification of this bird in Novaya Zemlya may well be doubted, as none of the many subsequent explorers have observed it there. Pallas (Z. Ros.-As. ii. p. 309) supposed that this might have been the bird recorded by Steller, as observed in 58° N. lat., on the Pacific coast, feeding on the carcass of a whale; but as it had a "yellowish bill" it was more probably a Fulmar Petrel. It has not been recorded as yet from the Pribilov Islands, the Aleutians, or Alaska; but it probably occurs along that coast, as a single specimen is described by Mr. Lawrence as having been obtained off Monterey, in California. Mr. Bernard Ross found it at the mouth of the Mackenzie river, and about Great Slave Lake, north of which it is very rare ; it also appears to range throughout the Hudson's-Bay territory, and is clearly, as far as dimensions go, the "L. keeask" cf Latham, mixed up with the Pomatorhine Skua, as shown by the description of the particoloured feet; the Esquimaux name of the latter species also happens to be " Keeask," according to Richardson, who does not mention S. catarrhactes. There is no authentic record of its occurrence on the Atlantic sea-board of the United States; and in South Greenland it was only twice observed by Holboll. From its breeding-stations it passes southwards in autumn along the western shores of Europe as far as the Straits of Gibraltar and N. Morocco, beyond which there is, as yet, no trace of it. As a mere straggler, of course, it has been found in Germany; and it was recorded by Mr. C. A. Wright as having been obtained at Malta (Ibis, 1864, p. 150) ; but the specimen has subsequently proved to be 51. pomatorhinus. Mr. Godman does not enumerate it amongst the birds of |
