THE SEA-FLIERS. 199 



surface. They are, however, by no means confined to a fish diet ; they devour birds and their eggs 

 kill small quadrupeds, and prey upon shell-fish of every kind. They will even attack young lambs 

 hack out their eyes and brains, and, in short, prey upon everything that offers itself, whether 

 living or dead. Generally, however, they live by the labour of other diving birds. They watch the 

 Gulls, Terns, Guillemots, and other predatory species, and whenever they perceive that they have 

 caught a fish, hasten after them with all speed, and so torment and worry them as to compel them 

 to disgorge their already swallowed prey, and let it drop from their mouths. No sooner do their 

 pursuers see it fall than, swoopin? after it with the speed of a Falcon, they catch it before it reaches 

 the water, and appropriate it to their own use. Such barefaced robbery as this naturally causes the 

 Skuas to be detested by all seafaring birds ; nevertheless, they seem to care very little for the general 

 hatred, and recklessly pursue their system of plunder whenever opportunity offers. No sea-bird will 

 brood in their vicinity, or remain upon any inland lake of which they have possession. Every 

 individual who has once made their acquaintance endeavours, as the sailors say, to give them a wide 

 berth. The more valorous species often attack them furiously ; the timid flee at their approach, or if 

 they are in a position which enables them to do so, dive out of their sight. When their breeding-time 

 arrives, the Skuas assemble in small parties, and build their nests in company with each other. The 

 places selected for this purpose are generally large islands, some species preferring the level of the shore, 

 others the summits of the highest rocks. In these localities they scratch or construct for themselves a 

 round excavation in the sand, and, if practicable, concealed among plants, and in the ample nest lay two 

 or three eggs, upon which the male and female sit alternately. The young are fed at first -with food 

 partially digested in the stomachs of their parents, subsequently upon coarser diet. They remain in the 

 nest for several days, and when they leave it run about on the beach like young birds, hiding themselves, 

 in case of danger, between the stones, or among the inequalities of the ground. After they have 

 become capable of flight, they continue for some time in the neighbourhood of the coast, profit by 

 their parents' instructions, and in their company they at last fly away to the open sea. In the second 

 summer of their lives they begin to breed. The eggs of the Skuas are eaten by the inhabitants of 

 northern countries, but the birds themselves are considered worthless ; nevertheless, they are killed 

 in great numbers. The chase after them is easy enough, inasmuch as they will greedily swallow any 

 kind of bait, and fear man no more than they do the birds that they plunder. 



THE COMMON SKUA. 



The Common Skua (Lestris catarractes), the most conspicuous member of the above family, is 

 twenty-two inches long, fifty-two inches broad ; the length of its wing sixteen inches and a half, of the 

 tail, six inches and a half. The colour of its plumage is greyish brown, the somewhat lighter under 

 surface is striped longitudinally with pale or red grey ; a space at the base of the dark-coloured wing is 

 white ; the eye is red-brown ; the beak leaden grey at the root, and black at the apex ; the foot 

 blackish grey. The young birds resemble the adults. 



Although the proper climate of the Skua is between 6o° and 70 north latitude, it has also been 

 met with in the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere. In Europe its head-quarters are in 

 the vicinity of the Faroe and Shetland Islands ; also on the coasts of Iceland, and the Orkneys and 

 Hebrides, ranging from thence, in the winter season, to the northern shores of France, England, 

 and Germany. The greater number of them, however, remain constantly in the north, seeking for 

 their food wherever the sea may happen to be free from ice. 



The Skua is recognisable from the larger Gulls by the varied character, facility, and rapidity of 

 its movements. It runs quickly when upon dry land, swims beautifully, floating with its breast deeply 

 immersed, rnd rises easily into the air, whether from the sea or from level ground. The flight of this 



