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CHAPTER III. 

 THE SKUA GULLS. 



" They were, in truth, great rascals, and belonged to that germs who find things 

 before they are lost." — Geimm. 



[HERE are six distinct species of Skuas, four of which are inchided in our 

 British fauna. They are far more courageous than the true Gulls, and are all 

 armed with a powerful hooked beak and claws. Their now generally adopted 

 generic name is Stercorarius ; though Lcstris, "a robber" or "pirate-vessel" is often used, and 

 is certainly very appropriate. They are sometimes called "Parasitic Gulls," as to a great 

 extent they live by robbing their weaker brethren. The name of " Skua" is from the note of 

 the bird, which sounds like " skui." All the Skuas are thoroughly oceanic in habit, and are 

 found in the higher latitudes of both hemispheres. 



The Common Skua (Stercorarius catarrhactes). — The illustration, PI. VI., Fig. 10, of the head 

 and feet of this Skua Gull is the life-size portrait of a specimen in my collection of British 

 birds. Mr. Howard Saunders says the range of this species is the most restricted of any 

 member of this family which breeds in the northern hemisphere. As a species he says it is 

 nowhere abundant, and of late years its numbers in the Faroes and Shetland Islands have so 

 seriously diminished as to render its speedy extermination there extremely probable. 



Yarrell says its breeding-stations with us are probably confined to Shetland. Quoting 

 Mr. Dunn, he mentions three, viz.: — " Foula, Eona's Hill, and the Isle of Unst. In the 

 latter place it is by no means numerous, and is strictly preserved by the landlords on 

 whose property it may have settled, from a supposition that it will defend their flocks 

 from the attacks of the Eagle. That it will attack the Eagle if he approaches their 

 nests is a fact I have witnessed, and once saw a pair completely beat off a large Eagle 

 from their breeding-place on Eona's Hill. The flight of the Common Skua is more rapid 

 and stronger than that of any other Gull. It is a great favourite with the fishermen. 



