THE SKUA 145 



same island, and I enclose an extract from a paper 

 written many years since, to show what are the feelings 

 of the people of Shetland on the subject. That this 

 feeling exists now I have the testimony of Mr. Howard 

 Saunders who was in Unst last summer, and to allow 

 the Great Skua to be exterminated there would in these 

 days be an outrage. 



Yours very truly, 



ALFRED NEWTON. 



Extract from Mr. R. Drosier's " Account of an 

 Ornithological Visit to Shetland and Orkney," Magazine 

 of Nat. Hist., vol. iii. p. 322 : 



The Skua Gull, called by the natives " Bonxie," is 

 held and cherished by them with the greatest veneration 

 and kindness, and nothing hurts their feelings more than 

 to see the death of their favourite bird. I was particu- 

 larly requested by two or three elderly natives, to spare 

 this bird : as to the Skua were almost entirely trusted 

 the care and protection of their lambs, during the summer 

 months, that are always allowed to wander unrestrained 

 over the island. These birds possess an inveterate dislike 

 against the Eagle and Raven ; for no sooner does the 

 broad and rounded wing of the Eagle appear emerging 

 from his rocky habitation amid the cliffs, than the Skua 

 descends upon him from the tops of the mountains, in 

 bodies of 3 or 4, and never fail to force the eagle to a 

 precipitate retreat. The natives always reward this 

 service by casting from their boats the refuse portion of 

 the fresh-caught fish, which he seizes with greedy 

 avidity, snatching it almost from the hands of the 

 fishermen. 



There was a strongly supported amendment, which 

 was eventually dropped, to make bird's-nesting an offence 

 under the Act of 1880. About this Newton wrote to 

 Lord Walsingham (July 18, 1880) : 



I do hope you will resist any attempt made by 



