THE GREAT SKUA. ll $ 



" In every case in which a pair of Great Skuas were seen together, as if nesting, 

 one bird was dark and the other light coloured, and the inference was that the 



colours might be sexual A dark bird was shot, and next day 



a light one was procured in another part of the island, also at a distance from 

 the breeding grounds. The dark bird turned out to be a male and the light one 



a female whether the colouring is associated with age or sex, or is 



merely a phase which both sexes may present, as in Richardson's Skua, I cannot 

 say. The fact that the dark bird is smaller may have been accidental, for the 

 difference in size was not detected when the birds were sitting or flying past ; but 

 if not accidental, and constant, the stouter and older looking bill and claws in the 



light Skua is in favour of the age theory When the Skuas were sitting 



on the ground, side by side, the difference in colouration was in every instance 

 noticed." 



The eggs are laid in May and June. These are of an olive-brown ground- 

 colour, with blotches of reddish-brown, or a darker brown, than the ground-colour, 

 often entirely covering the larger end of the egg. They vary in length from ai 

 to 2! inches in length by ii to 2 inches in breadth. The young emerge as 

 down-clad chicks of brownish- grey, somewhat more rufous on the upper side. 

 On becoming fully fledged the young birds assume at once the plumage of their 

 parents, except for the shorter and less prominently pointed feathers of the neck, 

 and the more rufous margins of the back feathers. 



Mr. Saunders says that " beyond a certain freshness on the new feathers, there 

 is no marked seasonal change, and the moult appears to be very gradual, the 

 plumage of the neck and shoulders having generally a weather-worn appearance, 

 as is also the case with many Raptores. Mr. G. T. Fox, who kept a bird alive 

 for ten years, says it showed no change with age .... Melanotic varieties are 

 occasionally met with, but the blackish tint is by no means intense." What the 

 dark and light coloured birds are, has not yet been settled satisfactorily, i.e., whether 

 the difference in hue is due to age or sex, or simple variation, as the above quoted 

 observations of Mr. Barrington show. 



The Great Skua has many of the habits of the Raptorial birds, though it 

 does not seize and carry off its prey in its talons. It is a rapacious feeder, seizing 

 and swallowing any bird it comes across, even as large as the Kittiwake. It causes 

 other Gulls to disgorge the results of their fishing forays, and sometimes fishes 

 on its own account. Dr. Edmondston gives it the character of being in captivity 

 gentle and affectionate, and feeding on anything offered to it ; but in defence of its 

 eggs and young it is fearless and bold, and will attack either Raven or Eagle. 

 In the Faeroes it was, half a century ago at least, a proscribed bird, and, according 



