HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION 273 



was only a scheme to obtain funds for a private 

 holiday-excursion to the north for egg-collecting. 



' These Skuas were sent to me in charge of a 

 native of Foula, a small island that lies at some 

 eighteen miles distance from the mainland of 

 Shetland ; this individual had never seen a tree 

 worthy of the name till he took the train from 

 Aberdeen on his way to Lilford, and although 

 he spoke excellent English, was evidently of 

 pure Scandinavian descent, and to me as a 

 naturalist more interesting even than the birds 

 that he brought with him. The proprietor of 

 Foula who sent me these Skuas is very anxious 

 to protect the breeding birds, but the high 

 price offered for their eggs by unscrupulous 

 collectors often, I fear, proves too great a 

 temptation to the few inhabitants of this rocky 

 and unproductive island. 



* The old Skuas, or " Bonxies " as they are 

 called in Shetland, are very powerful and 

 courageous birds, and in defence of their young 

 will attack not only eagles and other birds of 

 prey, but also any four-footed animal and even 

 human beings. They live principally by robbing 

 other gulls of their prey, and, as I was assured 



T 



