118 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



Stercorarius catarrhactes (Linn.). 

 Great Skua. 



Native names : ' Skiimur ' (Dusky [bird] ?), ' Hafskiimur,' 

 ' Hakalla- (or Hakarla-) skumur' (=' Sea-carle/ a 

 name also given to the Scymmts microceijhahis, 

 or Arctic shark). 



Resident in considerable numbers, breeding chiefly 

 on the south coast, where there are four colonies 

 (three of them consisting of a great many pairs of 

 birds) mentioned by Faber. There are also two small 

 colonies in the north, in ]}ingeyrar Sysla. It does not 

 appear that in any of the former in the south there 

 has been any decrease in individuals since Faber's 

 time, except perhaps in the one in the Olfusa. 



The eggs are laid in a slight hollow in the shingle or 

 sand, and are two in number, and are extremely like 

 certain varieties of the Lesser Black-backed Gull's eggs ; 

 their length is a little over 2f inches, and their colour 

 an olive brown with darker umber brown spots and 

 streaks. Eggs are seldom to be found in the nests 

 before May 11. The parents are very aggressive at 

 the nest, and Faber describes the exciting time that he 

 and his dog went through at one of the larger breeding 

 colonies in the south. 



This species is considerably the largest of the four 

 Skuas, measuring 24 inches in length, or a little more ; 

 gaining, too, nothing of its length from the possession 

 of elongated tail-feathers, like the other three species ; 



