| OCR Text |
Show 330 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE STERCORARIIN^E. [Mar. 21, Returning to the Atlantic, we find it along the North-American coast; and Solander, in his MS., describes, under the names of L. fuliginosus and L. nigricans, two specimens of this species obtained in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro on December 4, 1768, thus giving it a claim to be included in the list of the Neotropical Laridae so ably worked out by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 564). South of Rio there is no record of its occurrence on the east coast of America; but I can only refer to this species the example obtained by Mr. Buller at Horowhenua in the Province of Wellington, N e w Zealand, on April 30, 1864. His general description suits S. crepidatus; and he expressly states that the shafts of the primaries are white, the characteristic which particularly serves to distinguish it from Buffon's Skua, with which he has identified it. At the time that I examined the specimen in question I was not aware of this distinctive feature : the skin also had been badly preserved ; and, to make matters worse, the plumage was so worn and abraded that it is a marvel that the bird was able to fly at all. On the west coast of America it is only recorded as occurring at the Prybilov Islands and in Alaska ; but Mr. Gervase Mathew, R.N., informs me that when at Callao in April 1873, in H.M.S. 'Resolute,' he observed many small Skuas in various states of plumage, and attributed them (correctly no doubt) to this species, which he had often observed previously on the English coast. STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS. (Long-tailed or Buffon's Skua.) Le Stercoraire h longue queue, Buffon, Pl. Enlum. 762. Stercorarius longicaudus, Brisson, vi. p. 155 (1760). Catharacta parasitica, Briinn. Orn. Bor. p. 37 (1764). Larus parasiticus, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 226 (1766), Fauna Suec. 55. no. 156 ("rectricibus duabus intermediis longissimis.") ; 1 Miiller, Zool. Dan. Prod. 166 (1774); Phipps, Voy. N. Pole, p. 187 (1774) ; G m . Syst. Nat. p. 601 (1788); Scoresby, Arctic Regions, i. p. 534 (1820). Catharacta parasitica, O. Fab. F. G. p. 103 (1780). Catarracta parasitica, Retz. F. Suec. p. 160 (1800). Catarractesparasita, Pallas, Z. Ros.-As. p. 310 (1811). Lestris parasitica, Illiger, Prod. p. 273 (1811); Sw. & Rich. F. Bor.-Am. p. 430 (1831) ; Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 503 (1852). Lestris parasiticus, Temm. M . d'Orn. p. 512 (ed. 1815), p. 796 (ed. 1820), p. 501 (ed. 1840); Jenyns, Brit. Vert. An. p. 283 (1835); Gould, B. of Eur. v. pl. 442 (1837); Audubon, B. A m . vii. 192, pl. 452 (1844) ; Meyer, 111. Brit. Orn. vii. p. 174, pl. 314 (1857). Stercorarius longicaudus, Vieill. N . Diet. Hist. Nat. xxxii. p. 157 (1819); Newton, Ibis, 1865, p. 511 (Spitzbergen); Degl. & Gerbe, Orn. Eur. ii. p. 399 (1867). Lestris crepidata, Brehm & S. Beitrage z. Vogelkunde, iii. p. 861 (1822) ; Naum. Vog. Deutsch. x. p. 534, pl. 274 (1840). Lestris buffonii, Boie, Meyer & W . Tasch. iii. p. 212 (1822); Middendorff, Sib. Reise, ii. p. 241, taf. xxiv. fig. 2 (1853). |
