. The birds of Europe . the head black. From our knowledge of birds, we should say that the present species is extremely local, and we have neverobserved it in any of the many foreign collections we have had opportunities of examining. Our figure istaken from a fine specimen sent to us by M. Temminck, but from what locality it was obtained is not is probable that independently of those of the Mediterranean the whole of the coasts of Northern andWestern Africa constitutes its native habitat. The situation of the nostrils in this species, together with the absence of the black head in
. The birds of Europe . the head black. From our knowledge of birds, we should say that the present species is extremely local, and we have neverobserved it in any of the many foreign collections we have had opportunities of examining. Our figure istaken from a fine specimen sent to us by M. Temminck, but from what locality it was obtained is not is probable that independently of those of the Mediterranean the whole of the coasts of Northern andWestern Africa constitutes its native habitat. The situation of the nostrils in this species, together with the absence of the black head in summer,sufficiently indicates its separation, as M. Natterer has observed, from those gulls which we have includedunder the generic title of Xema. Head, neck, all the under surface and tail pure white; mantle and wings pale silvery grey; primariesblack, tipped with white; bill and legs red, the former crossed near the tip with two stripes of black. We have figured a male in the summer plumage nearly of the natural m Genus LESTRIS. Gen. Char. Beak moderate, hard, strong, cylindrical, very compressed, hooked at the point,the upper mandible covered with a cere, the under mandible with an angle on the inferioredge. Nostrils approaching the point of the beak, diagonal, narrow, closed on their pos-terior part, and pervious. Tarsi long, naked above the knee. Feet having three toesbefore, entirely palmated ; hind toe very small; nails large and hooked. Tail slightlyrounded, two middle feathers elongated. Wings, first quill-feather longest. SKUA. Lestris catarractes, Stercoraire cataracte. The Skua is an inhabitant of the higher regions of both hemispheres: it is constantly found on the Northernseas of the European Continent; and although it is not met with, we believe, in the North American seas,Captain Cook observed it at the extremity of the Southern Continent, being very abundant about the Falk-land Islands ; and several collected by Captain P. P. King, on his last su
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, booksubjectbirds, falklandislands, gulls, skua
