192 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



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." 

 Would that many another persecuted and fast- 

 vanishing British species could find sucli pro- 

 tectors as the Great Skua has found in Shetland ! 

 To any other part of the British Islands the Great 

 Skua is only a wanderer, and it is scarcely ever 

 seen in Ireland at all. 



The range of the Great Skua beyond the British 

 area, although extending across the Atlantic, is 

 comparatively a restricted one. The bird breeds 

 in the Faroes and Iceland, but is said by Hagerup 

 to be only occasionally seen in South Greenland ; 

 whilst in America it is said to breed near Hudson 

 Strait. In winter it wanders down the West 

 European coasts to Iberia and Morocco, but seldom 

 j^asses through the Straits of Gibraltar; whilst on 

 the American side it is said to wander as low as 

 New England. 



The Great Skua is a thoroughly oceanic species, 

 gifted, like most of its order, with ample powers 

 of wing. It may aptly be described as the 

 feathered pirate of the northern seas, depending 



