NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BINDS. 



as a means of averting danger near their nest. When tliey thought 

 they had succeeded in making the enemy retreat, they celebrated their 

 triumph by standing face to face upon the gi-ound, with their wings 

 extended vertically so as almost to meet above their back, wliilst both 

 loudly chanted a psean, consisting of a dozen notes or so dehvered in 

 the tones of a Carrion Ci'ow. In October they used to croak now and 

 then during their flight, and this croak, which was discontinued in the 

 breeding season, was very like the lower croak of a Raven. Indeed, it 

 was at first difficvdt to reassure one's self that they were not a species 

 of Corone as they circled in the air far orfl', and the blue-jackets used to 

 call them ' Black Crows ' for some time, but before long the designation 

 ' Molly Hawks ' came to be applied to them. This change of name took 

 place at the commencement of Petrel digging. If Blue Petrels were 

 turned loose in the daytime, they were almost invariably chased by 

 Skuas, and killed on the wing before they had flo^vn half-a-mile. Petrels 

 of one sort or another seem to constitute the staple diet of these Skuas. 

 They hunt for them in the evening when it is Ijecoming dusk, flying 

 rapidly along the hillside close to the ground, ready to pounce upon 

 any that they may see emerging from the mouth of their burrows. 

 Again in the early morning they are upon the wing to waylay Petrels 

 returning late from sea. Nor are they idle during the rest of the day. 

 I have mentioned their fondness for eggs in my paper in the 

 ' Proceedings.' 



" The nest is built amongst AzoreUa, where the ground is dry and 

 slightl}' raised. It consists of a hollow scraped out of the soil, lined 

 with dead tufts of Fcatuca ererta. The eggs are two in number and 

 do not vary much in colour. The statements in Captain Button's 

 paper on ' Birds Inhabiting the Southern Ocean ' (Quart. Jovu-. Sc, 

 1866, vi., 77), that the Kerguelen Skua breeds on flats ajnong grass 

 two feet high, and lays three eggs, and that the young are dark-brown, 

 spotted with white, do not accord with our observations. Tlie young 

 are dark-brown, without any pale spntx whatever. The ordinary food- 

 call of the nestlings is rather plaintive and tremulous ; they also quack 

 Ukc Mallards. 



" The old Skuas were much puzzled when they saw rabbits come 

 out of the Petrel's holes. They hovered for a long time over their 

 heads, and at length used to stand beside the mouths of the biu^rows 

 waiting for the young ones to creep forth, just as if they were watching 

 for Petrels. It is doubtful if they will succeed in ridding the island 

 of these mischievous vonnin, althousrh the voung birds reared bv mo 

 fed readily upon rabbits prociu-cd by a sUng. 



" Twenty or thirty adult Skuas used to assemble eveiy afternoon 

 upon a small sheltered lake near Swain's Harbour, where they washed 

 and basked." 



To show how lively the old Skuas make things for the egg hunter, 

 I shall quote from Dr. Kidder's experience on Kerguelen. He writes: 

 " Seeing a Skua fly by the house one day (7lh December, 1874), ap- 

 parently going somewhere in a hurry, I therefore snatched up my 

 revolver (no gun being at hand) and followed him. He was going to 

 join the female on her nest, as I suspected, and when I approaciicd 



