THE GREAT SKUA 191 



rewarded by the Zoological Society of London 

 bestowing a silver medal on the Great Skua's 

 preservers. The two colonies of this species are 

 situated on Unst and Foula. In the spring of 

 1891, Mr. Thomas Edmonston engaged a special 

 keeper to live for three months on Hermanness, 

 " to keep watch and ward by night and day over 

 the Skuas' home." Early in May nine pairs of 

 Skuas returned to the ancient nesting-place, two 

 pairs of which unfortunately settled beyond the 

 sacred limits of protection, and their eggs in due 

 course were stolen. The other seven pairs, thanks 

 to careful and ceaseless watching, succeeded in 

 rearing their broods. At the neighbouring colony 

 of Foula about a hundred pairs of birds appeared 

 in the spring of 1891, and although most of the 

 eggs of the first laying were taken, about sixty 

 young were reared out of the second attempt. Mr. 

 Edmonston, we should say, is of the opinion that 

 the Great Skua will not increase much beyond its 

 present numbers, because the Lesser Black-backed 

 Gull and the Herring Gull are decreasing, and on 

 these species the Skua chiefly depends for its 

 piratical livelihood. " Protection for the Skuas," 

 he writes, "implies some measure of protection 

 also for the Gulls; but unless the latter greatly 



