4 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



to find its resemblances. Its appearance in tlie air is somewhat lil^e the 

 biiteoniue hawks, except that its wing action, in its seemingly restrained power 

 and forceful stroke, suggests the unhurried flight of a falcon, or, perhaps, 

 more accurately — since the wings are at all times fully opened, employing 

 their full sweep in their action, their primaries slightly separated at the tips 

 and slightly recurved — the majestic flight of an eagle. The wing spread is 

 ample, the wing well balanced in its proportions of length and breadth, well 

 combined to produce both power and speed. The figure is somewhat burly 

 and chunky as compared with the lighter appearance of the gull and the 

 more racy lines of the yager. The impression of muscularity is heightened 

 by the short, square-cut tiiil, carried somewhat uptilted, giving the fowl an 

 appearance unmistakable in the eyes of one having once recognized it. This 

 peculiarity of tail, which to me seemed slightly forked instead of having 

 the central feathers lengthened, as in others of this group, together with the 

 broad white patch across the bases of the primaries, furnishes a good field 

 mark for the identification of the species. 



Macgillivray (1852) says: 



Its voice resembles that of a young gull, being sharp and shrill, and it is from 

 the resemblance of its cry to that of the word skua or skui that it obtains its 

 popular name. 



Mr. Rich's notes state : 



Whatever the case elsewhere, or the fishing grounds this seemed a silent 

 species. The writer heard no sound at all which he was able with certainty to 

 trace to it during his acquaintance vdth it. 



The most interesting phase of the skua's life history is its behavior 

 toward other species. It is certainly a bold and dashing tyrant, 

 more than a match for anything of its size and a terror to many birds 

 and beasts of larger size. Mr. F. St. Mars (1912) describes its 

 attack on the golden eagle, which dared to venture too near its nest, 

 in the following graphic words : 



Some minutes elapsed, in spite of the warnings, before the human eye could 

 have made out a faint dot growing out of the mist round the tail of an inlet. 

 It enlarged rapidly, however, that dot, and one saw that it was really a real, 

 live eagle, a golden eagle of Scotland. Mind you, there was none of that sublime 

 soaring in the infinite that the books tell of. He came, as any mere common 

 bird might have come, beating up along the shore with heavy, flapping flight, 

 which, by the way, looked much slower than it really was, and he said nothing 

 as he came. 



The picture, as it stood, of that somber, bronze-gold winged giant, beating 

 slowly up against the wind in a setting of dim gray sky, jade sea, and dark- 

 velvet land, was very fine. It seemed that nothing could have added to its 

 bold, wild grandeur. Then .something seemed to move across the heavens very 

 quickly, and there was a hissing sound as if a mighty sword had cleaved the air. 

 Followed then a second phenomenon just like the first, and almost in the 

 same instant one realized two distinct facts: Firstly, that the two skuas were 

 no longer near their nest ; and, secondly, that the eagle had, with five stu- 

 pendous flaps of those vast wings, shot upward into the clouds. 



