GULLS AND TERNS. 43 



to guard its own domain, the bird utters a loud cry 

 which is likened by many observers to the word 

 skua or skui. 



The Great Skua resorts to its breeding grounds 

 in April, and the eggs are laid in May. As it 

 returns yearly to the same places, it very possibly 

 pairs for life. The nests are made upon the ground 

 of the high moorlands, amongst the heath and 

 grass, and are mere hollows in the moss, sometimes 

 lined with a little dry grass. The eggs of this 

 Skua are two in number, and vary from pale buff to 

 dark olive-brown in ground colour, sparingly spotted 

 and speckled with dark brown and grayish-brown. 

 These eggs are large in size, and very closely 

 resemble those of the Herring Gull. But one 

 brood is reared in the year, and by the end of 

 August the young birds and their parents desert 

 the nesting colony, and adopt their pelagic habits. 

 Few birds are so courageous in defence of their 

 nests as the Skua. Even such predaceous creatures 

 as Eagles, Ravens, and dogs are driven off; whilst 

 human intruders are screamed at and approached 

 within a few feet, the birds wrathfully extending 

 their legs as if they would strike, and skimming to 

 and fro in rage. Many tales of this bird's daring 

 at its nesting places are current in Shetland, where 

 it is known almost universally as the " Bonxie." 



Our second species is Richardson's Skua, the 

 Stercorarius richardsoni of some systematists, the 

 S. crepidatus of others. Although not quite so 



