VICTORIA 139 



The White-winged Tern associates with the 

 land tern upon the swamps, in addition to travelling 

 across the waters of the Austro-Malay Archipelago. 



PARASITIC GULLS 



Sub Arctic. 



Australia. 



Sub Antarctic. 



Every year Southern Australia is visited by Skua 

 Gulls; the partial parasites of other gulls. Some 

 come from their nesting ground in the tundra of 

 Siberia, others from their nesting grounds on the 

 sub-antarctic islands, map 59. My experience has 

 been with each and I must say they are fearsome 

 birds, cruel and greedy. They steal and eat the 

 young of their closest relatives. Mother Carey's 

 chickens (Wilson's Petrel; Oceanites oceanicus) 

 are promptly gobbled up in the twilight if they 

 show themselves, or are late in returning with the 

 sun rise. The Skuas walk among the rookeries of 

 cormorants, and if the eggs are left for a moment 

 they are stolen, cracked and swallowed. Boldness 

 is shown in the way the birds approach any man 

 resting at his mid-day meal with wild ducks re- 

 cently killed behind him. They come quietly and 

 eat their prize on the spot as if mere man were 

 beyond consideration. The Southern Skua is prob- 

 ably the Australian race of the Falkland Island 

 Skua. 



