XII 



RICHARDSON'S SKUA 



first time that I saw this bird, he was chasing 

 a Gull which had a fish in its beak. We were in 

 a small boat, tossing in a rough sea, off the 

 Orkney Islands, and as we rose on the crest of a 

 wave I saw the two birds skimming swiftly over 

 the water. Although the Gull was bigger than the Skua, the 

 former was compelled to drop the fish, and his pursuer picked it 

 up and carried off the prize. 



My next acquaintance with this rather rare and interesting 

 bird was on a large, open Hebridean moor. There was no shelter 

 of any kind near, and long before we reached the haunt the birds 

 were off and away, and stood on some distant mounds surveying 

 the four intruders who had invaded their secluded home. A 

 rather lengthy search at last revealed a nest containing one egg, 

 and after photographing this I decided to try to get a picture of 

 the bird. It seemed a difficult task, but a good-sized hole was 

 dug in the wet peat, and then my small green tent was placed 

 over this and left there overnight. 



The next morning we found the bird sitting, and that the 

 heather-covered tent had not scared her away. On lifting a 

 portion of the tent we saw that during the night a large quantity 

 of water had collected in the hole, so I did not exactly look 

 forward to spending several hours under the canvas. However 



56 



