no NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



was not the only or the chief reason for this 

 raid of the pirate skua over the domain of the 

 citizen puffins. What he wanted above all 

 was food whether fish, or eggs, or nestlings, 

 it was all the same to him. A fairly compet- 

 ent fisherman himself though not, of course, 

 in the same class with the puffins, because 

 of their power of swimming under water he 

 nevertheless preferred to make others do 

 his fishing for him, and to take toll of their 

 honest gains by force. A hardy and fearless 

 highwayman, there was satisfaction for him 

 in the robbery itself. As he flew thus close, 

 and with the air of set purpose, above the 

 puffin burrows, a few desultory saddle-backs 

 who were circling just above dipped lower 

 to see what was going to happen. In case 

 of a scrimmage of any sort, there was always 

 the possibility of a chance to snatch some- 

 thing. 



As the skua skimmed along, just ahead of 

 him came a puffin, volleying upward from the 

 the sea with a particularly fine fish in his 

 beak. The lucky fisherman shot straight to 

 his hole. But, by the finest hairbreadth, the 

 robber got there before him. There was a 

 wild mix up of wings. The puffin was 

 knocked clean over on his back, losing the 

 fish, which fell just before the next burrow. 



