232 Order XIV 



there appears to be little or no room. A picture of 

 Kittiwakes on their nests, therefore, shews the sitting 

 birds almost clear of the cliff. The eggs are greyish- 

 white, stone-coloured, or light-brown, richly marked 

 with brown and grey of various shades ; they are much 

 prettier than those of ordinary Gulls, and do not so often 

 tend to a green ground-colour. This species is found 

 locally all round our coasts, and is rarely driv.en inland by 

 storms ; abroad it breeds in Brittany (with the Channel 

 Islands), and thence to the Faeroes, Iceland, and all the 

 circumpolar regions, if we do not separate a very doubt- 

 fully valid form in Bering Sea, and allow for a really 

 distinct species in the north Pacific Ocean. In some 

 respects the Kittiwake recalls a Tern, for it dives and 

 swims under water in a way that few Gulls attempt, 

 while the flight is more wavering, and it has a distinct 

 habit of hovering. A black band near the end of a 

 Gull's tail is a sign of immaturity. 



Family STERCORARIIDJE, or Skuas 



Of late years a great deal has been heard of the Great 

 Skua (Catharacta skua), on account of the necessity 

 for its preservation in Shetland, where alone in Britain 

 it breeds. It is a large and heavy dark brown bird with 

 a tendency to yellow on the neck and a little white on 

 the back and wing; it lays. its two dull olive eggs with 

 darker spots and blotches in hollows which it scoops 

 out in the coarse grass and short heather on the tops of 

 the hills. If a visitor approaches the colony the parents 

 swoop down upon him from the front, apparently 

 aiming at his face ; just before reaching him, however, 

 they drop their feet and rise above his head. Probably 

 he may have raised his arm or a stick, which helps to 



