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Show 1876.] MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERCORARIIN^E. 323 found, so far as I am aware, on the western side of the Straits of Magellan, or on the coasts of Chili or Peru, where its place is taken by a bird which I consider fully entitled to specific rank, and which, strange to say, has all its affinities with the northern Skua, S. catarrhactes. STERCORARIUS CHILENSIS (Plate XXIV.). Lestris antarcticus, var. b. chilensis, Bp. Consp. Av. ii. p. 207 (1857) ; (Mus. berol. ex A m . Merid. Rostro vix breviore quam in Europaeo, potius graciliore quam robustiore). Lestris antarctica, Scl. & Salvin, Ibis, 1869, p. 284 (Santa Mag-dalena, Straits of Magellan-Cunningham). S. supra fuliginoso-nigricans, pileo summo fere concolori; corpore reliquo superiore maculis longitudinalibus rufescentibus versus apicem angustioribus plus minusve dilatatis variegato; collo postico albicante vix rufescente longitudinaliter striato ; alis dorso concoloribus, remigum scapis albis, tectricibus alarum minimis dorso concoloribus et in eodem more rufo maculatis : primariis vix albido, secundariis maculis magnis rufescentibus terminatis ; supracaudalibus rufo marmoratis et subterminaliter maculatis; cauda nigra, pallidius terminata; loris et plumis subocularibus fuligi-nosis pileo concoloribus, his rufo lavatis ; genis, regione parotica, et corpore subtus toto cinnamomeo-rufis; axillaribus et tectricibus subalaribus castaneo-rufis, his et pectoris lateribus paullo fuligi-noso striatis; colli lateribus dorso concoloribus; ala subtus nigricante, primariis basin versus albis; rostro nigro ; pedibus nigris. Affinis S. catarrhacti, sed rostro graciliore, corpore subtus conspicue cinnamomeo-rufescente, et subalaribus et axillaribus castaneis distinguendus. Professor Peters, of Berlin, to w h o m I wrote on the subject, has courteously informed m e that the type specimen in that museum has all the above characteristics. It is a slightly immature bird, and came from Chili. Through the kindness of M r . G. Fanshawe, F.Z.S., I have lately become possessed of four specimens of a Skua shot by his nephew, Mr. J. R. Denison, at Mejillones, on the little strip of coast which belongs to Bolivia, in lat. 23° 5' S., at the end of February or beginning of March. Three of these birds are adults; the fourth is evidently immature, as shown by the brown crescentic tips to the dorsal feathers ; and the rufous of the underparts is less strongly marked than in the adults, showing that the ruddy colour increases with age. But even the young bird is ruddier than any S. catarrhactes I ever saw. In the museum at Cambridge is a similar immature specimen obtained by Dr. Cunningham, late of H.M.S.' Nassau,' in the Straits of Magellan, in April; and M r . Gervase Mathew, R.N., writes to me that he observed this chestnut-breasted bird at Valparaiso in January, and a month later at Coquimbo, when in H.M.S. ' Resolute.' More than this is not known to m e at present; and in the absence of any reliable information as to its breeding-haunts it would be rash to indulge in any speculations as to whether they are to the north or to |