GULLS AND TERNS. 45 



Richardson's Skua reaches its breeding-grounds 

 in the British Islands early in May. Its haunts 

 at this season are open moors, at no great distance 

 from the sea. Although social at its breeding- 

 places, it can scarcely be described as gregarious, 

 and the nests are usually scattered up and down 

 the moorland area. This Skua appears to pair 

 annually, and the nest, always made upon the 

 ground, is merely a hollow, carelessly lined with 

 a little dry herbage, and sometimes nothing but 

 a shallow cavity in the moss. The eggs, normally, 

 are two, but sometimes three have been found, and 

 occasionally but one. They range from olive to 

 brown in ground colour, spotted and speckled with 

 darker brown and grayish brown. Incubation is 

 performed by the female, and lasts about a month. 

 At its breeding-places Richardson's Skua is very 

 demonstrative, and often reveals the situation of 

 the nest by its anxious movements above the 

 intruder's head. After the young are reared the 

 moors are deserted, and for the remainder of the 

 year this Skua is decidedly pelagic in its habits and 

 haunts. 



We now pass to the Terns. These pretty 

 graceful birds widely known as "Sea Swallows" 

 differ in many respects from the Gulls and Skuas. 

 They most closely resemble the former in general 

 appearance, but may be easily distinguished by 

 their slender form, small size, and forked tail. Of 

 the dozen species that have been regarded as 



