SKUA. NATATORES. CATARACTES. 515 



with the utmost fury, should it happen to venture within 

 the limits of the breeding territory. As above observed, it 

 inhabits the Shetland Isles, breeding in communities upon 

 Foulah, Unst, and Rona's Hill in Mainland. It selects the 

 wild and unfrequented heaths for the site of its nest, which Nest, &c. 

 is formed of a few dried weeds and grasses ; and its eggs, 

 two in number, are of a dark oil-green colour, blotched with 

 irregular brown spots, with smaller whitish ones intermixed. 

 After performing the duties of incubation, it retires to the 

 adjacent seas, where it leads a solitary life, rarely approach- 

 ing the land till the advance of spring again urges it to seek 

 its summer retreat. It is but seldom found in the southern 

 parts of Scotland, and the instances of its capture upon the 

 English coast are of still rarer occurrence, MONTAGU only 

 mentioning one, of a bird that was shot at Sandwich, in 

 Kent. The food of the Skua consists of fish, the carcasses Food. 

 of cetacea?, and other marine animal matter ; a great part of 

 which is obtained from the larger Gulls, whom it attentively 

 watches, and pursues with unceasing hostility, till they are 

 compelled to disgorge the fish or other substance that they 

 had previously swallowed, and which, from its rapid evolu- 

 tions on the wing, it generally catches before reaching the 

 surface of the water. In this, as well as in the other species, 

 the claws are strong and much hooked, particularly that of 

 the inner toe ; and it is said to make use of them in hplding 

 fast its prey, which is torn in pieces after the manner of 

 raptorial birds. The Skua inhabits also various parts of the 

 Arctic Regions, and is well known in the Feroe Islands, in 

 Norway, and Iceland. It is, moreover, a native of the high 

 latitudes of the southern hemisphere, and is mentioned by 

 COOK, and other circumnavigators, under the name of the 

 Port Egmont Hen. Dr FLEMING * observes, that the fea- 



* For some interesting observations upon the Skuas, I refer my readers 

 to a paper by Dr FLEMING, published in the first volume of the Edin- 

 burgh Philosophical Journal. 



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