246 



BACKBONED ANIMALS, 



ities of the eagle, being a bird of prey. The beak is 

 sharp and curved, the claws at the tip of the webbed toes 

 are sharp and talon-like. They prey upon the prions and 

 other birds, dragging them from their holes, or hunting 

 them after the fashion of the hawk. In general color they 

 are brown. They are so ferocious as to even attack man.* 

 In the penguin-streets of Tristan da Cunha the nests of 

 skuas are seen on mounds, surrounded by well-picked 

 skeletons of prions. The eggs are large and two in num- 

 ber. The northern skua {Lestris parasitica) is equally pred- 

 atory, attacking other birds, sucking the eggs of the eider 

 and other ducks often to such an extent that they can not 

 fly away. It breeds on the unsheltered rocks, forming no 

 nest, the eggs, two in number, being per- 

 fectly protected by their resemblance to 

 the ground. If, however, an enemy ap- 

 proaches, the skuas shuffle off as if wound- 

 ed, and thus avert the danger. 



Order IV. Steganopodes (foot-cov- 

 ered}. General 

 Characteristics. 

 The birds of this 

 order are aquatic 

 and characterized 

 by short, partly- 

 hidden, completely 

 webbed feet, and 

 an unfeathered 

 pouch beneath the 

 bill capable in some 



of extraordinary expansion. The tropic birds, gannets, 

 darters, and cormorants, are representatives. 



* Professor Moseley states that at Kerguelen's Land and other 

 localities they had to beat them off with clubs, and that when a duck 

 was shot the skuas would often pounce upon it, so that two shots were 

 required to obtain a single bird. 



FIG. 282. Brown pelican (Pelecanus fuscus}. 



