SKUAS. 285 



You may have caught a fawny glint on the hind- 

 neck in the sunlight, or a glimpse of some white 

 on the upper surface of the wings, but what you 

 cannot fail to have noted as the bird swung above 

 was the large light tract formed by the white bases 

 of the largest wing-feathers on the otherwise dark 

 under sides of the wings. If he comes upon a body 

 of Gulls, they rise at once in fear ; if he gives chase 

 to one of them, it will disgorge; for fear the fish 

 it had swallowed. The Skua himself may dash 

 down upon surface-swimming fish in the manner 

 of Gulls ; but as a rule he prefers to rob rather 

 than to work. He is a pirate, with all the insolence, 

 but also with all the daring and the sea-roving 

 instincts, of his kind. The nest is made , on the 

 ground in high moorland country. 



RICHARDSON'S SKUA— 20 inches ; either entirely sooty- 

 brown, or dark on crown and upper parts, with cheeks, 

 neck, and under parts white, and the sides of neclc tinged 

 with yellow; hut in either case the two central tail- 

 feathers extend 3 inches beyond the others. 



RICHARDSON'S SKUA— Form, like Great Skua 

 (plate 118). 20 inches, this measurement including 

 the central -tail feathers, which extend 3 inches 

 beyond the others. Upper parts alaty-brown ; lighter 

 on the hind-neck and back, but darker on the crown 

 (where it forms a cap), the wings, and the tail ; under 

 parts white, the white tinged with yellow where it 

 extends round the sides of the neck to form an in- 

 complete collar, and shaded with ashy-brown on the 

 sides of the breast and of the body ; bill horn-colour ; 



