456 STERCORARITDAL 
instantly seized (sometimes before it touches the water), 
but will actually kill sea-birds, especially the smaller Gulls. 
I believe that small land-birds when met with at sea are 
also preyed upon. Floating offal is frequently eaten, and 
the bird is said to devour stranded carcases. It is, more- 
over, a notorious egg-robber. 
Nest.—The nest is usually situated amidst heather and 
other moor-land vegetation, and at their breeding-haunts 
the birds are exceedingly fierce. Two eggs are laid about 
the end of May, green to greenish-brown in colour and 
marked with darker blotches. 
Geographical distribution.—Abroad, as a nesting-species, 
the Great Skua is plentiful in Iceland; it also breeds in the 
Faroes, and sparingly in South Greenland. On migration 
in winter it visits the waters of Southern Europe, and is 
found chiefly along the Atlantic sea-board, being rare in the 
Mediterranean. Westward it reaches the coast of the New 
England States. 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial.—Head and throat, dark 
brown, speckled with rufous; pointed feathers at the back 
of neck, vellowish-brown; back and wings, dark brown, 
mottled with chestnut and dull white; primaries, brown 
with white bases to inner webs; tail-feathers, brown, some- 
what streaked with dull rufous, the central pair half an inch 
longer than the rest; breast and abdomen, reddish-brown ; 
under wing-coverts, brownish-black. 
Adult female nuptial.Similar to the male plumage. 
Immature, male and female.—Resembles the adult 
plumage, but the neck-feathers are less pointed and striated, 
and the feathers of the back and wings are faintly edged 
with rufous. 
Adult winter, male and female.—Similar to the nuptial 
plumage. 
Beak. Black; strong, and slightly hooked at the 
extremity. 
Frret. Black; claws, sharply curved. 
IRIDES. Brown. 
AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 
TOTAL LENGTH ... aa 5  Q0-* ame 
WING = as Gee eee PAG e 
BEAK Soe soa Sig ees | Le OIE 
TARSO-METATARSUS ee oe Dee 
EGG sre ce ae ane 2°82 ime 
