496 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



KICHAKDSON'S SKUA. 



LESTRIS RICHARDSONIL 

 Fasgadair. 



THIS is perhaps the most common species of pirate-bird throughout 

 Scotland. Its breeding places, however, are mostly confined to 

 the Outer Hebrides. The nurseries on some of the islands are 

 frequented by forty or fifty pairs; there are several stations on South 

 Uist; on Stuala island, Wiay, Benbecula, and North Uist. There 

 are also one or two breeding places in Lewis. These haunts are 

 generally the most uninviting spots in appearance, being dark peat 

 bogs, with patches of heather growing where the ground is firm. 

 The nest is similar to that of the black-headed gull, and the struc- 

 ture is placed often on a tuft of heath to keep it dry in case 

 of inundation, which frequently happens in very wet seasons, 

 though the nature of the ground at any time makes it somewhat 

 difficult to take the eggs without wading. There is the same 

 variety in the eggs (which are two in number) as in those of the 

 gull referred to many of the iiests containing a dark and a light- 

 coloured one. 



These birds are very courageous in defending their eggs and 

 young, and will strike an intruder pretty smartly if care is not 

 taken to ward off the blow. Dogs meet with even a worse recep- 

 tion, and frequently beat a retreat rather than face the angry bird. 

 Their cry at these times is harsh and grating, not unlike that of 

 a peregrine falcon. The following remarks, extracted from a paper 

 on the island of Foula the most western of the Shetland group 

 by Captain Vetch of the Eoyal Engineers, show the force of the 

 bird's attack: "In approaching the nest of the Arctic gull, an 

 attack still more fierce than that of the skua commences. The 

 intruder receives constant flaps with the wings of the bird. 

 Judging from the rapidity of the dart, and their just grazing the 

 head of the person, I imagined if any hard substance was suddenly 

 elevated above the head a few inches at the moment previous to 

 the graze, the animal would probably terminate its existence 

 against it. I accordingly elevated the muzzle of a fowling-piece a 

 few inches above my head, and after a few trials, in which the 

 bird showed a most extraordinary power of altering its course when 

 almost touching the gun, the experiment ended by its death ; and 



