27 



brownish carpet of Crowberry plants* forms comparatively large 

 levels, interrupted by low hillocks, there will always be found 

 established a pair of Richardson's Skuas (Stercomrius cvepidatus), 

 which are very skilful in hiding their dark-brown eggs or the 

 sooty-black young, numbering one or two, among the ling. Al- 

 though a near relation of the gulls, and thus like them having 

 to seek their living on the sea, they by no means disdain any- 

 thing as food, which the dry land can offer them, from Lemmings, 

 Shrew-mice, and young birds, down to insects and Crow-berries, 

 which they pick up among the ling. 



If we approach the Skuas' nesting place, we see the two 

 parents, the one white-, the other black-bellied, or both white- 

 bellied, or both black, flying restlessly and silently about the 

 spot ; now and then they throw themselves to the ground, as if 

 struck lame, and remain lying there with extended or half-flapping 

 wings, like birds winged by a shot, in order if possible to divert 

 attention from their eggs or young. If we come quite close to 

 the nest they become bolder, and at last swoop down so near 

 us, that the tip of their wing sometimes touches one's head so 

 forcibly that our hat flies off, and our ears tingle. 



But the Skua pursues its proper craft, when it throws itself 

 in among a flock of fishing Terns, selects an individual amongst 

 them which has just caught a young Coal-fish of an inch long, or 

 a Sand-Launce (Ammodytes lancea), and pursues it with stoops as 

 swift as lightning until it is compelled to let go its prey, which is 

 picked up from the surface of the water, or even while still in the 

 air. 



Although in the down all are black, the young of these 

 variously-coloured parents are, later on, likewise varied. From 

 similar parents (both dark-, or both white- bellied) spring similar 

 young ones ; from variously-coloured parents spring a mixed 

 brood, some white-bellied, some black-bellied. In the arctic parts 

 of Norway the white-bellied individuals are the more common, on 

 the southern coasts of the country the black. 



Others of the lower holms may be entirely occupied by 

 colonies of the Arctic Tern (Sterna macrura) ; on one such holm 



* Empetruni nigrum. 



