BIRDS. 



107 



the great skua and 

 Richardson's skua, 

 both of which get a 

 good deal of their living 

 by a reprehensible 

 method of marauding. 

 Upon seeing a gull 

 catch afishand swallow 

 it, the} 7 chase him until 

 he disgorges it, when 

 they promptly appro- 

 priate it. I watched 



three members of the 

 latter species rob a poor 

 little kittiwake of the 

 just proceeds of her 

 labours one day, and 

 they reminded me of 

 so many sooty fiends. 

 When their breeding 

 grounds are visited they 

 swoop at the head of 

 the intruder, or hang 

 in mid-air facing a stiff 



\ 



KUA PREPARING TO SWOOP. 



