94 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
a vicious “swish” past the ear, not always unaccompanied by an 
actual blow from the wing. My hat was struck three times by 
one bird, but always from behind; and when I followed it, 
however furtively, with my eye, it always flinched from the swoop. 
There is great difference in the boldness of individuals, and but 
few swooped very close. Those that did so were always dark 
birds; but that might arise from predominance of that colour in 
the colony. This attack is apparently to divert the attention, 
and shows you are getting “ warm;” but as soon as the young are 
discovered, and even whilst they are being handled, the menacing 
“mee-ah” changes into a plaintive ‘‘ee;” and no further attack 
is made upon the spoiler, although the indignant parents often 
relieve their feelings by dashing at others of their own species, 
or any bird in their vicinity. I once saw an unfortunate pair of 
Whimbrels, which were in a great state of alarm about their own 
young, most viciously attacked by a couple of offended Skuas. 
There is much difference in the individual characters of the 
young; for, though all squat perfectly still until they are handled, 
some will then fight viciously with their feet, and make free use 
of their claws, whilst others will even follow up and worry an 
extended finger with the bill. This is quite irrespective of age, 
some little fellows in half-down being more savage than others of 
double their size. 
In the autumn the migrations of this species are pushed even 
farther southwards than that of the preceding, for it appears to 
pass our winter off the Cape of Good Hope, and also on the 
Mekran coast and the Persian Gulf, and has even been obtained 
in New Zealand. I think, from descriptions, that it visits Rio de 
Janeiro; but the record is very deficient with regard to South 
America, and information on the subject is much to be desired 
from both the east and the west coasts. In North America it is 
tolerably abundant along the Atlantic seaboard, and reaches 
through the Arctic Regions to the Pacific side, from whence, we 
have little information respecting it. All the specimens brought 
home from the far north are white-breasted, which looks as 
if the dark was comparatively a more southern form. It was 
to this latter that the name of Richardson’s Skua was originally 
applied, under the erroneous impression that it was a distinct 
species; but I employ it because it is generally known, and 
is the only one which cannot produce any confusion—other 
