THE KING OF THE GULLS 



819 



Ornithok)gically, as well as geo- 

 graphically, the island is divided into 

 the lowlands, where the Richardson's 

 Skua (or AUon, as Foula folk say) breeds, 

 and the hills, where the Great Skua (or 

 Bonxie) reigns supreme. The territory 

 occupied by the two species has, of course, 

 no definite boundary, but there is a wide 

 belt — a sort of no man's land — dividing 

 the two. Well were it for the Allon if it 



motherly instinct triumphed and they 

 crouched in an endeavour to shield their 

 young ; but most were left to seek 

 shelter as best they might, for in the 

 warring of the elements it was each for 

 himself. Here and there I found hollows 

 which had been nests and now were pools 

 in whose midst the eggs rose as twin 

 islets. In one case the egg-shell was 

 broken and the beak of a young bird 



RICHARDSON'S SKUA SITTING. 



did occupy the lower parts of the hills, 

 for on the level ground it is too much 

 a+ the mercy of the storm. My first day 

 on Foula gave me an insight into the 

 constant struggle against the varied 

 forces of Nature which is the life of all 

 wild creatures. No quarter is asked for, 

 none can be given. Might is right, and 

 sooner or later all fall in the fighting 

 line ; for there is no gradual decline 

 and peaceful death for any other than man. 

 A gale hitherto unchecked in its course 

 over the Atlantic was wreaking its fury 

 on the island. The wind shrieked and 

 raged over the treeless ground, and the 

 rain descended in hissing torrents, which 

 seared the hillsides with an infinity of 

 tiny channels and swamped the level 

 parts. Numbers oi Allon were stancHng, 

 like so many weathercocks, with their 

 heads to the wind ; in a few instances the 



protruded, meeting death on the threshold 

 of life, drowned before it really was born. 

 Other chicks, older and stronger, had 

 strayed away from the treacherous hollows 

 of the nests and sought shelter from the 

 stinging rain behind tufts of grass. For 

 such as I found I built httle shelters, but 

 the parent birds mistook my attentions, 

 and, rising into the storm, they swooped 

 down upon me, striking my head with 

 feet and wings, attacking me now from 

 one side, now from the other so rapidly 

 that one could not but mar\'el at the ease 

 with which they set their wings like 

 reefed sails and harnessed the very violence 

 of the gale. 



During the night the storm spent its 

 force, and the next morning saw me 

 on my way to make closer acquaintance 

 with the Bonxie. The day promised fair, 

 but just as I reached the summit of the 



