390 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



Skua is said to be taken from " Skui, Skui," the cry of the 

 birds ; they are often called " Boatswain Gulls," from the 

 long tails of all the species except the Common Skua, as if 

 each bird was, like a boatswain, carrying behind it a 

 marlingspike ; and on Torbay the sailors give them the 

 name of " Irish Lords," for a reason which it is easy to 

 surmise. All four species have been obtained on both the 

 northern and southern shores of the county, although in 

 the fine estuaries and bays of the south they occur more 

 frequently and in greater numbers. The eggs of the 

 Skuas differ considerably, both in their colour and in the 

 character of their markings, from those of the other Gulls, 

 being reddish olive with only a few darker blotches upon 

 them ; and the nests are usually placed upon the ground, 

 the Common Skua being the only one of tlie family which 

 breeds upon the cliffs. Their plumage is singular, the 

 adults having a few golden hackles upon the throat, with 

 black caps on their heads, blackish or grey mantles, and 

 white underparts, the central tail-feathers being consider- 

 ably elongated. The young birds are first chocolate- 

 coloured, and attain the adult plumage slowly, and do not 

 gain it entirely until the third year. But the Common 

 Skua is an exception, being always dark brown and fulvous 

 all over in its plumage, and possessing certain of the 

 characteristic yellow hackles upon the throat. The colour 

 of the legs and toes in the Skuas also differentiates them 

 from the other Gulls, whose legs are yellow, black, or red ; 

 while the Skuas have their legs bluish with the webs and 

 toes black, so that one of the names given them by the 

 earlier ornithologists was " Black-toed Gull " (Pennant). 

 The Skuas also received the extraordinary name of " Dung- 

 birds " (Stercorarius, Brisson), from the strange idea that 

 when they were pursuing the Kittiwakes and Common 

 Gulls for their fish it was for the purpose of feeding on 



