88 EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 



RICHARDSON'S SKUA. 



THE islands lying to the West and North of Scotland, also 

 parts of the far north of the mainland, are chosen by this 

 Skua for its breeding quarters. The nest is simply a 

 slight hollow, sparingly lined with a few bits of withered 

 grass, and is situated on wild, unfrequented moors and 

 bog-land. The eggs number two, but upon occasion one 

 only is found, and sometimes as many as three. They vary 

 from olive-green to reddish-brown in ground colour, 

 spotted and blotched with blackish-brown and light grey. 

 I have seen them harmonise so closely with their surround- 

 ings that I had a great difficulty in finding them, though 

 I had marked the whereabouts of the nest within a few feet 

 through my binoculars. 



THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Low rocky islands are the favourite breeding places of 

 this Gull, and they are now particularly numerous at 

 the Fame Islands, where I have seen the eggs lying about 

 so thickly that the visitor had to exercise great care to 

 avoid treading upon them. Sometimes quite a large 

 quantity of seaweed is used in making the nest, at others a 

 few bits of grass and roots, and in some cases, where bare 

 peat earth is available, simply a hollow is scratched out 

 The eggs as a rule number three, but sometimes only two 

 are met with. I have seen it stated that the bird occa- 

 sionally lays four, but out of the hundreds of nests I have 

 examined I have never had the luck to see that number. 

 In coloration they vary from pale greyish-green to reddish - 

 brown, blotched and spotted with blackish- and greyish- 



