FULMAR PETREL. 115 



range in Britain, not being known to nest out of Shetland, and 

 to have but three places for nidification there. So resolute and 

 daring are they when they have young to defend, they do not 

 scruple to attack the eagle, and a pair have been known to beat 

 the strong, proud marauder effectually off. The Skua makes a 

 large nest of moor-growing moss, and takes some pains in its 

 construction. It is placed among the heath and moss of a hilly 

 island. The eggs are two in. number, and vary much in colour ; 

 according to locality it would almost seem. Some are dusky 

 olive brown, others with a much greener hue, and they are 

 blotched with darker brown, and a few spots of rust colour. 



314. POMARINE SKUA (Lettris Pomarinus). 

 Merely a casual visitor, although more frequently noticed of 

 late years than before ornithology became so favourite a study. 



315. RICHARDSON'S SKUA (Lestris Richardsonii). 

 Arctic Gull, Black-toed Gull, Arctic Skua. This species is the 

 most numerous of all those which visit this country. It breeds 

 in the Hebrides, in the Orkneys and in Shetland, ana numerously 

 enough in the two localities last named. The female has been 

 observed to make use of the same artifices as the Partridge and 

 the Grouse to decoy an intrusive dog or man away from its nest 

 or young. The nest is built of moss or ling, on some elevated 

 knoll amid marshy ground, or on the moor, and contains two eggs. 

 These are of a greenish olive brown colour, spotted with dark 

 brown. This Skua not only restlessly and pitilessly persecutes 

 the Kittiwake and other Gulls in order to obtain its own food from 

 them at second-hand, but also makes free with their eggs for the 

 same purpose in a very marauder-like fashion. Fif/. 5, plate XII. 



316. BUFFON'S SKUA (Lestris Bu/onii). 

 Mr. Yarrell distinguishes between this bird and the true L. 

 Parasiticus, and consequently adopts the scientific name I have 

 now given. This Skua can only be considered a rare and acci- 

 dental visitor. 



317. FULMAR- ^^^^L(Procellaria glacialis). 

 Fulmar, Northern Fulmar. The Fulmar breeds in incredible 

 numbers at St. Kilda, but is rarely met with, even in winter, 

 about the southern coasts of England. Both old birds and 

 their young on being touched eject a considerable quantity of 

 clear oil, which, however, is by no means of an agreeable odour ; 

 and probably from this cause the nest, young birds, and even the 

 rock on which they are placed, stink almost intolerably. The 

 nest is very slight, if any, and the bird lays her single white egg 

 in little excavations, and lightly lined, on such shelves on the face 



T2 



