288 THE GREAT SKUA 
breeding season it assails any intruder on its domain. It is a beauti- 
ful bird, especially in its variegated immature plumage, remarkable 
for its delicacy of colouring and the easy grace of its flight, frequent- 
ing high cliffs in summer, while engaged in the duties of incubation, 
and at all other times preferring the open sea to estuaries, and feed- 
ing on such small fish as swim near the surface. It is very abun- 
dant in the Arctic regions of both hemispheres during summer, 
and extends its southern limits so far as to include the British Isles, 
but is most numerous in the north. Its nest, built of seaweed or 
bents, is placed high up in the face of a precipitous cliff, generally on _ 
a'narrow ledge, and in close proximity with others belonging to 
birds of the same species. It contains three eggs, and the young 
birds remain in their airy nest until fully fledged, when, as 
well as their parents, they disperse over the neighbouring seas, 
rarely venturing either to perch on land or fly over it. The 
young of the Kittiwake, previous to its first moult, is sometimes 
called the Tarrock. Colonel Irby says that the Kittiwake is a 
partially resident species. Marked birds have been known to 
follow vessels across the North Atlantic. 
Sus-Famity STERCORARIINZE (Rosser Gutts) 
THE GREAT SKUA 
STERCORARIUS CATARRHACTES 
Upper plumage brown, of several shades ; shafts of the quills, basal half of 
the primaries, and shafts of the tail-feathers, white ; under, reddish grey, 
tinged with brown ; two central tail-feathers but slightly elongated, not 
tapering ; tarsus two and a half inches long, somewhat rough at the back, 
Length twenty-five inches. Eggs olive-brown, blotched with brown. 
THE Skuas, called also Skua Gulls, are sufficiently distinguished 
from the true Gulls by their strong hooked bills and talons, and 
by the habits of daring and voracity founded on these characters. 
The present species, though called common, is only to be so con- 
sidered in high latitudes ; for it is very rarely seen on the coasts of 
England, and has become scarce even in the Shetland Islands, where 
it was at one time frequent. Mr. Dunn? says: ‘I never saw this 
bird in Orkney, and there are only three places in Shetland where 
it breeds—viz. Foula, Rona’s Hill, and the Isle of Mist ; inthe latter 
place it is by no means numerous, and is strictly preserved by the 
landlords, on whose property it may have settled, from a superstition 
that it will defend their flocks from the attacks of the Eagle. That 
® Ornithologist’s Guide to Orkney and Shetland, p. 112, 
