PONDS, PADDOCKS, AND AVIARIES 55 



thick-knee or stone curlew of this country, with a 

 delicately contrasted plumage of various shades of brown 

 and buff, and brilliant yellow irides. 



" In the courtyard, in a wired enclosure adjoining the 

 domicile of the bear, are two of the great skuas {Stercorarius 

 catarrhactes\ a dark-coloured bird of the gull family ; 

 these birds were sent to me from the island of Foula, 

 in Scotland, which island is, with the exception of 

 one other locality in the same group, the only British 

 breeding-place of this species. 



" A few years ago an enterprising youth at Birmingham 

 issued a circular proposing the formation of a syndicate, 

 whose members should invest various sums as shares in 

 a fund to enable the advertiser to visit the Orkney and 

 Shetland Islands to collect birds' eggs, the plunder to 

 be divided according to the respective amount of sub- 

 scriptions. The eggs of the great skua were specially 

 mentioned, as likely to be the most valuable result of 

 this looting adventure. In the interest of birds in general, 

 and of this bird in particular, I at once sent the circular 

 above mentioned with an indignant protest to the editor 

 of the Times ; Mr. Wilson Noble, IVI.P. for Hastings, 

 with whom I had no acquaintance or correspondence, 

 did the same, and a strong leading article on the subject 

 of the destruction of rare birds appeared in the "Times 

 simultaneously with these communications. The result 

 of all this was that the editor of one of the leading 

 papers in Birmingham received an evening visit from 



