ARCTIC SKUA 461 
not infrequently attacked by a pair of Skuas, one of which, 
dashing straight at it, will keep up the hunt until the poor 
fugitive, almost exhausted, ejects its food, and this is in part 
swallowed by the second Skua, which, all the time has kept 
apace in the flight. 
If the nesting-haunts are intruded upon, the Arctic Skua, 
when brushing by, will almost strike the invader with its 
wings; but, as remarked by Mr. Saunders, its swoops are 
directed from behind or sideways, nor has he seen it make a 
frontal attack. 
Voice-—The voice is sometimes querulous in tone, at ~ 
other times almost pathetic. The note most often heard 
is méee-méé: this may be followed by a shorter and more 
sharply-sounded note, which may be syllabled mé-ah- mé-ah, 
or even mah-mah. 
Food.—In its piratical methods of obtaining food this 
Skua resembles its congeners. Fish, ejected from the 
stomachs of Gulls and Terns, form the chief food, but 
disabled birds, and helpless fledglings are despatched, while 
eggs are also plundered. In addition, insects, shell-fish, 
and worms, are eaten; Mr. Ussher cites an instance where 
an Arctic Skua was shot when following the plough feeding 
on worms (‘ Birds of Ireland,’ p. 353). 
Nest. — Moor-land sites are selected for breeding- 
purposes, the nest being but a mere rough hollow in the 
ground, chiefly among heather and other dry herbage. 
Several nests, almost amounting to colonies, may be found 
spread over a large tract of open moor. 
The eggs, laid about the end of May or early in June, 
are normally two in number, of a deep olive colour, blotched 
or suffused with darker brown. 
Geographical distribution.—The Arctic Skua may be 
said to be quite circumpolar in its breeding-range, and is 
found in abundance during the nesting-season, from the 
Scottish Islands northward.’ But the darker form (vide 
plumage), is rarer in the Spitzbergen Group, and the 
higher latitudes of Arctic America, while it ‘‘ predominates 
towards the southern limit of the bird’s breeding-range.” 
In the very high northern latitudes the white-breasted form 
' “ Pennant was the first to discover that it bredin the British Islands, 
by finding it on the lst of July 1772 on Jura, which, thanks to the pro- 
tection accorded to it, it still inhabits, and this must be the most southerly 
point in its breeding-range”’ (Newton). 
