THE GREAT AND ARCTIC-SKUAS 207 



which, as at a signal, the other one floats in the same manner, and 

 both now descend thus together to the ground. Standing then, the 

 one behind the other, at about a yard's distance and faced the same 

 way, both of them throw up their heads, raise their wings above their 

 backs, pointing them backwards, and stand thus for some seconds 

 fixed and motionless, looking just like an heraldic device. At the 

 same time they utter a cry which sounds like skirrr or skeerrr. The 

 foremost bird then flies off, and is instantly followed by the other." l 



The birds do not necessarily precede this pose with the flight, 

 or follow the flight with the pose. Nor do they always stand in 

 line. 2 



A common form of greeting between individuals of a pair, when 

 they visit one another after standing a little apart, as they often do, is 

 for one to " bow down towards the ground in a heavy sort of manner, 

 whilst the other stands facing it with the head and beak lifted into the 

 air." After this, one of them turns round, and makes a series of 

 curious ungainly leaps along the ground, raising the wings at each 

 leap. This bird may then return, and the whole performance be 

 repeated. 3 



One can understand the first scene in this remarkable act, the 

 greeting, but how explain the second scene ? What is it that moves 

 one of the parties suddenly to quit the object of its affections with 

 these strange ungainly hops ? The movement appears to be quite 

 original, and not a modification of some more familiar act. It seems 

 to be a creation ad hoc. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about it 

 is that it has not often been remarked before. The truth is that until 

 recently facts of this nature have been rarely recorded in the pages 

 of ornithological literature, either because they were not seen, or 

 because their importance for comparative psychology was not 

 appreciated. 



The only gesture of the Arctic-skua of which I can find any note 

 is one which accompanies the feeding of the hen bird by the cock. 



1 Bird Watching, p. 101. 2 Ibid., p. 102. Ibid., p. 99. 



