i>4 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



read so much about the boldness of the Great Skua in attacking intruders during 

 the breeding season, there was at first some disappointment at their apparent want 

 of courage. There were no eggs or young in any of the four or five nests ; this 

 might account for it. Away down the slope, about half a mile away, Richardson's 

 Skuas were seen, and a nest found with two eggs. 



"Walking on towards the depression between the Hamnafeld and the Sneug, 

 Great Skuas appeared more numerously, about ten pairs being observed within a 

 radius of two hundred yards. Many nests were met with, but not a single egg. 

 Up to this the birds had not come nearer than ten to twenty yards, flying past 

 and across us, now and then uttering a croaking noise, " ag-ag," and sometimes 

 alighting within thirty yards. Presently a pair became very bold, and when passing 

 would swoop towards us. Thinking eggs or young must be close by, a delay was 

 made to search carefully, and both Skuas then attacked us vigorously, so that our 

 sticks were involuntarily raised to prevent them striking our heads. The modus 

 operandi was this : — The Skua would start about sixty yards off, on the same level 

 as our heads, and fly straight at us, not deviating an inch, and increasing in speed, 

 then, when within a yard or two of our heads, the feet were lowered, claws 

 extended, and with a terrific ' swish ' and deep rushing noise of the wings, it 

 would swerve upwards in a graceful curve, wheel then either to the left or right, 

 descend again to the level of our heads, and repeat the performance with greater 

 or less vigour, according as we approached or receded from the nest. The nests 

 were sometimes within ten yards of each other, but more frequently thirty to forty 

 yards asunder. I must have seen over sixty, but all had been robbed save one, 

 and this one contained a single egg. It was the only nest seen at a lower level 

 than eight hundred feet, and probably escaped the searching eyes of the native 

 egg merchant. W. was more fortunate, and found in one spot a few nests with 

 one to two eggs and one young bird. The general impression left was that the 

 Great Skuas were flying round their robbed nests, intending either to make new 

 ones close by, or lay a second time in the old nests. Three times only was I 

 attacked in that extraordinary vigorous manner which has made the Great Skua 

 so noted for its boldness ; but, were the nests not robbed, and three or four pairs 

 of Skuas defending their young at the same time, few visitors would have the 

 courage to face them without a stick. The natives told me that in some instances 

 the Skuas knocked off their hats, and have broken their wings against a stick 

 suddenly held up as they swooped at the head of the intruder. No serious injury 

 seems at any time to have been inflicted on a human being by a Skua. The 

 birds probably weigh four or five pounds, and this weight striking a man on the 

 head, and coming at such a velocity, would certainly kill him. 



