5 6 PONDS, PADDOCKS, AND AVIARIES 



the author of the circular, who, in fear and trembling 

 and dread of incarceration in the Clock Tower at 

 Westminster, begged that his advertisement might be 

 withdrawn from circulation, and confessed that it was 

 only a scheme to obtain funds for a private holiday 

 excursion to the North for egg collecting. 



" These skuas were sent to me in charge of a native 

 of Foula, a small island that lies at some eighteen miles 

 distant from the mainland of Shetland. This individual 

 had never seen a tree worthy of the name till he took the 

 train from Aberdeen on his way to Lilford ; and although 

 he spoke excellent English, was evidently of pure 

 Scandinavian descent, and to me, as a naturalist, more 

 interesting even than the birds that he brought with 

 him. The proprietor of Foula, who sent me these skuas, 

 is very anxious to protect the breeding birds, but the 

 high price offered for their eggs by unscrupulous 

 collectors, often, I fear, proves too great a temptation 

 to the few inhabitants of this rocky and unproductive 

 island. The old skuas, or * bonxies,' as they are called 

 in Shetland, are very powerful and courageous birds, 

 and in defence of their young will attack, not only 

 eagles and other birds of prey, but also any four-footed 

 animal, and even human beings. They live principally by 

 robbing other gulls of their prey, and, as I was assured 

 by the Shetlander before mentioned, frequently catch and 

 devour the smaller gulls themselves ; for this purpose 

 their sharply curved claws are well adapted. 



