3 
5) 
2 STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS. 
road to the north for about half a mile, and then turned inland to the north- 
west for perhaps a mile, going up to about five hundred feet above the sea. 
We put up a Partridge, a Blackcock, and a few Curlews, but I could not make 
out that the last had nests or young, and they were as wild as they would be 
in winter. On arriving, by a very gentle slope, at the moss where the Skuas 
are, one rose about a hundred and fifty yards ahead of us, and I made out 
that it had a white breast. It was soon joined by another, a black bird, but 
we did not see from whence the lattercame. After waiting for some time, and 
looking over the knolls, of which there were a good many on the moss, some 
whitened by the droppings of the birds, we went and lay up behind a larger 
knoll, some three yards from where we first noticed the bird get up, to the 
north-west and to windward of it. As we were going thither I saw a third 
bird, which apparently rose some two hundred yards to the north; but it did 
not join the other two. While we were walking the black bird came very 
near us, and dropping to the ground, remained fluttering about fifty yards from 
us. From this I imagined that we were close to its young; but, on getting to 
the knoll and lying down, the bird flew away behind us, and we lost it. How- 
ever, we soon saw the white [-breasted] bird settled on a knoll. After waiting 
about ten minutes, | made McLeod get up, on which we saw the black bird 
rise exactly where I expected the nest would be, and close to where we had 
seen it fluttering on the ground. I remained where I was, and sent him back 
to the place whence the bird had risen, to which he walked straight, and found 
the nest with two eggs——the nest quite exposed on the top of a grassy knoll, 
and the grass very short so that one could see the eggs at several yards’ 
distance. I took one egg. We then went on to where we had seen the third 
bird, and found that it had been joined by its mate, which was much darker 
on the breast than the first one we had seen, having a sort of buft-coloured 
breast. The black one soon performed the same antics as the other black one, 
fluttering on the ground, which convinced me that it too had anest. I then 
sent McLeod to a knoll about two hundred yards to the westward, and remained 
watching the bird, as I was sure that as soon as I moved from the spot it would 
go to its nest. So I waited till he was able to watch. When he got to the 
knoll and lay down, I went to him, and he told me he had seen the black bird 
alight between two parallel drains which ran in our direction, and about the 
same distance from where I saw the light-coloured bird sitting quietly preening 
its feathers. In about five minutes’ time, being sure that the black one was on 
the nest, 1 made McLeod get up, I keeping my glasses on the spot, between 
the drains, which he had indicated, and immediately the bird rose. We then 
walked to the spot, and there was the nest, just like the other, but with one 
egg. He told me that a man over seventy years of age lad told him that he 
had known Skuas breed on this place all his life, but that he had never seen 
more than three pairs; McLeod himself had never seen their eggs before, 
though he had found young birds. While waiting to find this last nest, a pair 
of Golden Plovers were running about within thirty yards of us, but McLeod 
said he did not think they had a nest near where we were.” 
In June 1891, my brother and I walked along the road that he had taken the 
year before. I sat down, while he struck across the moor to where he had seen 
the Skuas the year before. He found only two birds, which did not seem to be 
a pair, and neither behaved as if it had a nest near. | 
