76 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



unhurt, Mr. Stanley and I dug up, by the aid of the dog, a well-grown and nearly- 

 fledged young bird (supposed to be of Majaqueus (equinoctial-is), as large as an 

 ordinary domestic fowl. A pair of skuas being near at hand, watching our proceed- 

 ings, I threw the young bird up into the air, so that it flew some distance and alighted 

 perhaps two hundred yards away from us. One of the skuas immediately flew up to 

 it, and killed it by repeated blows upon the head with its beak ; the other remaining 

 at some distance, on guard, as I at first thought, but, as afterward appeared, afraid of 

 its mate, for, while we stood watching the first skua eating its capture (nearly as large 

 as itself), the other approached by degrees, uttering short, plaintive chirps, but not 

 daring to share in the meal. When, after a few minutes, we drove them off, the 

 abdomen of the petrel had been torn open and its entrails partly devoured. As a 

 general rule, its habits are terrestrial, and on the few occasions when, probably after 

 poor success in hunting, I have seen it alight in the water, it has held its wings up 

 perpendicularly, like a butterfly, as if afraid of wetting them. At the pairing season, 

 this trick of holding up the wings becomes quite a prominent characteristic. Two 

 will alight upon a knoll, quite near together, holding their wings perpendicularly in 

 the air, and set up a vociferous cackling. The note is loud, harsh, and hoarse, sugges- 

 tive of the cry of the gull. The nest is a shallow cavity in the long grass (Festucci), 

 lined sparingly with grass stems, and always in a dry spot. The old birds make it very 

 lively for the egg-hunter, attacking him on opposite sides with great vigor and deter- 

 mination, and keeping up an outcry that is really appalling. Seeing a skua fly by 

 the house one day, apparently going somewhere in a great hurry, I snatched up a re- 

 volver (no gun being at hand) and followed him. He was going to join the female on 

 her nest, as I suspected, and when I approached both attacked me as usual. I suc- 

 ceeded in killing the male, but emptied the revolver at the female without success, 

 and was kept standing for certainly twenty minutes, pelting the enraged bird with 

 stones as she swooped down at my head, with the two eggs in plain sight, but not dar- 

 ing to pick them up." 



The members of the genus Stercorarius are arctic and sub-arctic, being of smaller 

 size than the foregoing, and characterized by having the middle pair of tail feathers 

 protruding considerably beyond the others. The Pomarine jffiger (/S. pomarinus) is 

 of a somewhat rare occurrence, but is easily distinguished by the middle tail feathers, 

 which are obtuse at the end, having the portion beyond the others twisted so that the 

 webs stand nearly vertical instead of lying flat. The long-tailed jasger (S. longi- 

 caudus) is another northern species, characterized by its enormously elongated and 

 pointed central tail feathers, and its blue tarsus. It is more an inland bird, often in- 

 habiting moors and swamps in the mountains, and to a great extent feeding upon 

 field-mice and lemmings. The best-known species is the so-called Richardson's jffiger, 

 known among fishermen and sailors as the 'boatswain,' 'teaser,' 'dung-hunter,' etc., 

 the first name referring to the pointed central tail feathers as ' marling-spikes,' the office 

 emblem, so to speak, of the boatswain ; the third one alluding to the belief, which at 

 one time even was shared by the men of science, that these birds feed on the dung of 

 gulls and terns, while the second name fitly illustrates one of the remarkable habits 

 of these birds, to be mentioned below, and which has secured for it its scientific name 

 S. parasiticiis. Though written more than fifty years ago, William Macgillivray's 

 spirited account of the habits of this bird is still unsurpassed, so we maybe excused for 

 reprinting it here : " The sea-birds are on wing, wheeling and hovering all around, 

 vociferous in their enjoyment, their screams mingling into one harsh noise, not less 



