COMMON SKUA. 483 



against riches and oppression. Why shoukl men of warm 

 hearts and clear heads expend all their sympathies on the 

 poor, and reserve none for the rights and remedies of the 

 rich ? That system of ethics has yet to be promulgated Avhich 

 establishes that affluence is synonymous with happiness and 

 vice, and indigence Avith misery and virtue. 



" The Skua is hardy and easily tamed. He does not 

 possess the habit of his congener the Arctic Gull, that of 

 making some other Avater-birds not only cater fish but cook 

 it for his table. He has a good beak and pinions of his OAvn, 

 and he disdains to soarn for the disgorgement of others. In 

 some countries he is proscribed, as Avell as the E,aven and 

 Eagle, and a price set on his head, from the notion that he is 

 injurious to young lambs ; but this, I think, is incorrect. 

 Small sea-birds he does occasionally attack and de\^our. In 

 captivity he is gentle and affectionate, and will feed on almost 

 anything. When offended he raises his Avings and yelps in 

 the manner of the Eagle, but his bearing is much more digni- 

 fied and magnanimous. The nest is on the bare heath, the 

 young two in number, and their colour like that of the Golden 

 Eagle. 



" They remain Avith us only during summer, but I hardly 

 think they migrate to other countries, but roam over the 

 ocean in quest of food, having no longer the tie of incubation 

 to fix them to a circumscribed range, and this doubtless is 

 the case Avith many other birds that leave at certain seasons 

 particular countries, and yet are not found in others." 



The Rev, Mr. Loav gives the following account of the 

 Skua, as seen on the Island of Foula, to the AA^estAvard of the 

 Shetland Isles : — " As I approached the summits of the high 

 mountains, I came near the Skua's quarters, Avhicli are affixed 

 on the very peaks. I no sooner approached but I Avas attacked 

 Avith so great fury, that every one of those who Avere Avith me, 

 as Avell as myself, Avere obliged to do him obeisance at every 

 stroke. He beat my dog entirely out of the pit, insomuch 

 that he Avas obliged to run in among our legs for shelter, and 

 could not be forced out again, for though Bonxie, as he is 

 called, had some regard for us Avhile Ave kept together, on him 

 he had no mercy, every Avhip he fetched him made his own 



