CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 45 



breed with those like themselves as well as with the 

 light-coloured ones, and the latter do the same. 



In regard to the nesting habits, I quote Howard 

 Saunders as follows : " The eggs, two in number, 

 are laid in the hollow of the moorland moss ; they 

 are of an olive-orreen colour, blotched with dark 

 brown." The same authority says : ''The flight of 

 this Skua is rapid, though somewhat devious ; and 

 any intrusion upon the breeding-ground is resented 

 by swoops directed from behind or sideways, for, 

 although the bird will actually strike with its wings, 

 I have never seen it make a frontal attack." 



The Skua is, as a matter of fact, a Gull-hawk, and 

 a regular pirate by nature. Too lazy to work for 

 his own food, he prefers to watch other Gulls 

 working on their own account ; and when they have 

 scored a success in the way of a fish, this robber 

 makes for them at once ; and although they may 

 have actually swallowed the fish they promptly 

 disg-orgfe the same for his benefit, so terrified are 

 they of him. In addition to this, the Skua "preys 

 upon wounded birds, and is said to plunder the eggs 

 of sea-fowl " (H.S.). 



In my trout fishing trips to the Hebrides I have 

 seen many of these Skuas breeding on the moors, 

 and once when returning with a keeper and my 

 ghillie over a large tract of moorland in one of the 

 western islands of Scotland I came across a pair of 

 them, which I got with a right and a left ; they 

 are the lighter-coloured ones you see in the case. 

 The dusky one I purchased. 



