THE SKUA OULU 177 



Cape of Gjod Hope and Cape Horn, as in the middle of the 

 vast Atlantic, these black and piratical birds, like weathered 

 mariners, are seen to levy their contributions upon the 

 inhabitants of the deep, soaring on high above the mountain 

 wave, and flying out in easy circling tours like so many 

 boding ravens, occasionally reconnoitring at a distance the 

 sailing vessel that accidentally ventures across their wide 

 and desolate domain. 



In the southern hemisphere, bold and predaceous by 

 privation, the Skua Jager is frequently seen to attack the 

 gigantic albatross, beating it with violence while on the 

 wing, and who generally escapes from the daring freebooter 

 tlone by settling down into the water. Still the Jager 

 himself succumbs to the rage and violence of the elements, 

 and at the approach, or during the continuance of the 

 tempest, he condescends to seek out the shelter of the bay 

 or the neighbouring coast. They are also not unfrequently 

 •esociated with the common tern, and have a somewhat 

 similar cry. 



The Skua, like the larger Gulls, commonly feeds on fish 

 and mollusca, as well as on carrion and cetaceous animals, 

 and seeking out the nests of other marine birds, he robs 

 them frequently of their eggs. They nest themselves in the 

 remote and cold regions, associating in large bands, on the 

 summits of mountains, or in the herbage and heath con- 

 tiguous to the coast. They lay three or four very pointed 

 iliVB<yKiU8 eggs, sprinkled with large brown spots. 



