OUR PETS. 73 



of creatures, and in this respect strikingly contrasts 

 ■with her eminently sagacious and cunning congener, 

 the rat. In her efforts to get at the tempting fare 

 provided for her, she moves the treacherous dome ; the 

 supporting penny slips, down comes the bowl, and she 

 is a prisoner. I thought our skua would not be 

 unwilling to try his digestive organs on a mouse ; so 

 one morning I took the plate and bowl with a captive 

 mouse to the tub in which he was washing himself, 

 and dropped it in the water. In a moment he seized 

 and swallowed it alive. The poor little creature, evi- 

 dently resenting such treatment, and kicking against 

 such an unceremonious proceeding, made it highly un- 

 comfortable for the skua's gullet ; so mousie was quietly 

 disgorged still alive. A pinch on the head speedily 

 despatched her, and then she was swallowed without 

 any further unpleasant consequences. Ever after that 

 when I caught a mouse in the manner described, and 

 sallied forth with the plate and bowl, " Bonxie," who 

 perfectly understood what it meant, flew to me full of 

 eager expectation. I raised the lip of the bowl the 

 least thing, when, as neatly as possible he inserted his 

 bill sideways, pulled out the little prisoner, killed, and 

 bolted it. Ten or twelve mice were no more than a 

 comfortable breakfast for him, and fare which evidently 

 he enjoyed exceedingly. 



Another of the gull tribe, closely allied to the last, 

 which we frequently had amongst our pets, but were 

 never able to keep alive for any length of time, was the 

 Arctic or Richardson's skua. This elegant and active 



