THE COMMON SKUA. 593 



voice of the Common Skua is said to resemble that of a 

 young Gull, being sharp and shrill; and it is from the 

 resemblance of its cry to that of the word Skua, or Skui, 

 that it obtains its popular name. That it is remarkably 

 courageous and daring, all accounts agree. Mr. Low says 

 that, when the inhabitants are looking after their sheep 

 on the hills, the Skua often attacks them in such a 

 manner that they are obliged to defend themselves with 

 their cudgels held above their heads, on which it often 

 kills itself; and Captain Vetch, in the "Memoirs of the 

 Wernerian Society," says that it not only drives away 

 Ravens and Eagles, but that the larger quadrupeds, such 

 as horses and sheep, which venture near its nest, are 

 immediately put to flight. Its northern name is Bonxie. 



POMARINE SKUA. 



LESTRIS POMARINUS. 



Upper plumage uniform dark brown; feathers of the nape long, tapering, 

 lustrous ; sides of the face and under plumage white ; a collar of brown spots 

 on the breast, and similar spots on the flanks ; shafts of the quills and tail- 

 feathers white, except at the tip ; two central tail-feathers projecting three 

 inches, not tapering ; tarsus two inches long, rough at the back, with projecting 

 scales. Length twenty-one inches. Young birds Upper plumage dusky 

 brown, mottled with reddish yellow ; under, yellowish white, thickly set 

 with brown spots and bars. Eggs ash-green, spotted with dusky. 



THE habits of this bird vary but little from those of the 

 other species. Its home is in the Arctic seas, from which 

 it strays southwards in winter, and has been occasionally 

 seen on our coasts. The following account of the capture 

 of one of these birds, in 1844, indicates a bird of unusual 

 daring and voracity : " About the beginning of last 

 October, a Pomarine Skua was taken in the adjoining 

 village of Ovingdean. It had struck down a White Gulj, 

 which it would not quit : it was kept alive above a 



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