154 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



floating carrion^ such as the carcases of whales and large 

 fish, and to prey indiscriminately upon vario'^s young small 

 water birds. Its character, in fact, may be very fairly 

 described as rapacious, tyrannical, and predacious ; the 

 generic term Lestris, which signifies a robber, is, therefore, 

 a very appropriate one. 



In Shetland, Richardson^s Skua breeds on the islands 

 of Noss, Unst, and Foula. Here they are said to breed 

 in colonies of as many as fifty or sixty pairs ; but in some 

 other i:)laces, where they arc known to rear their young, 

 they keep separate from any companionship. The nest is 

 generally, though not always, placed upon some high point 

 or eminence ; it is composed of dry grass, heath, or moss. 

 Two eggs are usually laid ; they are of an olive-brow^n 

 colour, spotted with dark brown ; the length is two inches 

 and a quarter, and the breadth about one inch and eight 

 lines. 



Richardson^s Skua is found over all the seas of North 

 America and North Europe ; and those that breed in the 

 Orkneys, Hebrides, and Shetland roam southward after 

 their progeny are reared, and are seen with greater or less 

 frequency down the eastern and western shores of this 

 country. 



Beyond the limits of the British Isles this bird has an 

 extensive range, being found in Nova Zeml)la, Spitzbergen, 

 and Iceland ; and it has been met with in the Straits of 

 Magellan and the Falklands. 



The flight is far more rapid than that of any of the Gulls, 

 and, except on rare occasions, the birds are seen only singly, or 

 in pairs. The Skua appears to be capable of considerable 

 artfulness in attempting to decoy intruders from her nest. 

 Mr, Salmon states ; — '^ When the female left her nest^ we 



