66 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



"Will you permit me again to make my annual report regarding 

 the preservation of the Great Skua on Hermanness ? I am glad to 

 say that eight pairs, the whole number that returned to their accus- 

 tomed nesting -place, succeeded in hatching their broods, all the 

 young birds getting away in safety. One pair again made trial of 

 the neighbouring heights of Saxavord, but the nest was, as usual, re- 

 morselessly harried. Another pair of colonists were more fortunate ; 

 for, selecting the hill of Sneuga, some distance south of the enclosure 

 of Hermanness, they were there hospitably entreated and carefully 

 protected by the occupier of the land, Mr. Alexander Sandison of 

 Lund, with the happy result that the young birds were safely hatched, 

 and another settlement, I hope, founded upon the island of Unst. 

 The result is a net gain of two pairs over last year, when only seven 

 couples, and all of them in Hermanness, succeeded in maintaining 

 their homes inviolate. I ought to add that, in spite of the most 

 careful watching, two nests on Hermanness were plundered of their 

 eggs, but it was early in the season, and the birds laid again with 

 better results. 



" It is not possible to state with any kind of confidence at what 

 period of life the young of the Great Skua become mature and begin 

 to pair. The birds are so rare, and their lives so wandering, that 

 opportunities of observation, except during the short period of their 

 stay in their breeding stations, are wholly wanting. Again, the 

 thought of killing a Great Skua, even in the dearest interests of 

 science, has been abhorrent to the minds of three generations of 

 bird-lovers in my native island, and hence there has been no chance 

 of determining the point referred to by comparison of specimens at 

 various stages of life or by anatomy. It was, however, the opinion 

 of my late father, Dr. Edmondston, supported by the still higher 

 authority of his son-in-law, Dr. Saxby, that the Great Skua does not 

 attain its full plumage, or begin to breed, until the fourth year. 

 These opinions, and I know of none entitled to greater weight, were 

 based upon various experiments in keeping young birds for some 

 time in captivity, and, although by no means conclusive, are probably 

 approximately correct. If this be so, we may reasonably expect that 

 some of the birds successfully hatched in 1891 will return to breed 

 in 1895, and those of the present year in 1896, and so on. I ad- 

 here to my formerly expressed opinion that Hermanness is already 

 stocked to its utmost capacity, or nearly so ; and, if the Skuas in 

 Unst are to be largely increased, the protected area must be extended. 

 It is surely not too much to hope that the neighbouring proprietors will 

 do as Mr. Sandison has done in the case I have referred to, and will 

 afford true northern hospitality to such grand and interesting guests. 

 " It may not be out of place, as illustrating the difficulties of pro- 

 tecting Hermanness, to mention an occurrence of last season. Two 

 visitors, presumably gentlemen, since they came provided with intro- 



