144 PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



species in Pennant's time bred in many of the Hebrides, 

 Islay, Jura and Rum. It has been for some years quite 

 extinct in Jura, and the last met in Rum that I have 

 any record of was in 1837. There are still stations on 

 both the Uists, Lewis, and some others of the Hebrides. 

 A few pairs breed in parts of Sutherland and Caithness, 

 and again in Orkney and Shetland ; but nowhere is the 

 species sufficiently abundant to do any real harm, while 

 the decrease within the past century of its breeding 

 quarters shows that it is a species which will soon dis- 

 appear, if subjected to the same conditions as formerly. 

 Its extirpation as a British species would be a positive 

 loss, not only to our Fauna, but it so happens that to a 

 scientific zoologist it is one of the most interesting species 

 we have, because it is, I believe, the only one of our 

 birds which commonly exhibits " dimorphism " in its 

 plumage, and ornithologists have been at their wits' end 

 to explain the why and the wherefore of this peculiarity. 

 They would lament its extinction as a very great loss. 



Of the other species, the Great Skua, much more is 

 to be said. I believe it now breeds only on the most 

 northern of the Shetland Islands, and that it does so is 

 due to the influence of three successive generations of 

 the Edmunston family. Their conduct in this respect 

 has been for upwards of 50 years held up to, and by, 

 ornithologists as a most laudable example, and in my 

 opinion nothing could be more detrimental to the hopes 

 of those who desire to preserve to posterity our more 

 interesting birds than the striking of this bird's name out 

 of the schedule. I have been always looking forward to 

 a fitting opportunity when I could get the Zoological 

 Society to award its silver medal to the head of the 

 Edmunston family as an acknowledgment of their 

 meritorious conduct in keeping this species a living 

 member of the British Fauna ; for without them it would 

 long since have " gone under." But I will admit that 

 the Edmunston family may have (in the beginning) pre- 

 served this bird from motives of personal advantage ; 

 still their feelings are shared by others who inhabit the 



