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. 



Sub-Family STERCORARIIN^ (Robber Gulls) 

 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 ; in the lattei 

 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 tlie attacks of the Eagle. That 



* Ornithologist's Guide to Orkney and Shetland, p. 112, 



