204 THE SKUAS 



the Arctic or Richardson's skua, is with us the whole year through, 

 like the great-skua, but is commoner. It breeds in the extreme 

 north of the Scottish mainland, in the Hebrides, Orkneys, and 

 Shetlands. As it is frequently compared with the bonxie or great- 

 skua, it is here treated together with it, the Pomatorhine and Buffon's 

 skuas being treated separately. 



The accompanying plates will give a good idea of both species, 

 the bonxie being depicted making a savage charge upon a trespasser 

 in its territory, and the Arctic chasing a tern with intent to rob. 

 Famous pirates both, but of the two the smaller species, the Arctic, is 

 the more alert ; it is a buccaneer of the rollicking type ; it seems 

 to feel a fierce zest in its nefarious business, to love the doing 

 of it as much as the reward. It will even make of it a pastime, 

 swooping down upon one of its own kind in sheer exuberance of 

 spirits, pursuing it with dizzy speed and amazing twists and turns, 

 to be pursued in turn, flinging forth as it goes its wild mewing call to 

 mingle with the other wild harmonies of Nature's vast orchestra. The 

 great-skua is equally bold, and its swiftness is perhaps greater, but its 

 spirit seems as sombre as its hue. It sweeps sorrowfully over the sea, 

 and broods upon the waters as if it were the reincarnated spirit of a 

 shipwrecked Viking. Such at least is the impression given by 

 externals, and coloured by our human apperception. If we could 

 only see with the eyes of these Skuas, and feel with their senses, get 

 inside the creatures, so to speak, we should find no doubt that they 

 differed little in their outlook on life. 



The two species would not be unlike in sombreness of plumage 

 were it not for the remarkable lighter variations in the coloration of 

 the Arctic. This species has been termed dimorphic, which is inexact, 

 if by this it is meant that there are two distinct types without existing 

 gradations from one to the other. Between the form which is entirely 

 dusky hued above and below, and that which, while retaining the 

 dusky hue on the upper parts, is whitish or cream coloured on the 

 under parts, it should be possible, judging from the evidence, to 



