THE GREAT SKUA IN SHETLAND DURING 1891 91 



young. The Hermanness birds had a different fate ; for thanks to 

 careful and zealous watching, the eggs in every one of the seven 

 nests were hatched out, and the young birds were safely on the 

 wing some weeks ago. This gratifying result is greatly owing to the 

 personal supervision and unwearied care of my nephew, Mr. Laurence 

 Edmondston, of Halligarth, from whose report to me I take the 

 foregoing particulars. 



" I may here repeat, what I had the honour of stating last April 

 before the Zoological Society, that in my opinion the Skuas on 

 Hermanness cannot be expected to increase much beyond the 

 number now attained. In years gone by, when the colony reached 30 

 or 40 pairs, the two species of gulls on which the^Skuas chiefly depend 

 for their piratical system of living, the Lesser Black-Back and the 

 Herring Gull, were far more numerous in and around Hermanness 

 than they are now. Protection for the Skuas implies some measure 

 of protection also for the gulls ; but unless the latter greatly increase, 

 the former cannot be expected to do so. In existing conditions, and 

 pending a possible large increase in the number of gulls, it is nearly 

 certain that the Skua colony can only be increased by enlarging the 

 area of ground protected." 



All naturalists will accord Mr. Edmondston their warmest 

 thanks for his great, and happily successful, efforts to protect 

 the birds upon his domain. 



With regard to the views expressed by Mr. Laurence 

 Edmondston as to the numbers of the birds at Hermanness 

 beinsr at about their maximum and the reasons he adduces 

 in support of that belief, I would venture to question their 

 correctness. Let us test the value of this theory by 

 the aid of the evidence afforded by the Island of Foula, 

 which, from the fact of its being the headquarters of the 

 species, and also from its remarkably isolated position — 

 it is 1 5 miles from its nearest co - island of the Archi- 

 pelago — enables us to form conclusions of special value 

 upon such a question as this. Now, at Foula there arc not 

 less than 120 Great Skuas to be provided for, and yet the 

 numbers of the Lesser Black-backed Gull and the Herring 

 Gull arc, if anything, rather remarkable for their paucity, so 

 far as my experience goes, and also that of my friends who 

 have visited the island. Here it seems almost certain that 

 the Skua must either levy toll upon other species — if on 

 the Larinae, on the Kittiwake — or it must procure food by 

 other methods than by practising those characteristic piratical 



