& 



88 EGGS AKI) EGG-COLLECTING. 



EICHARDSON'S SKUA. 



The islands lying to tLe West and North o£ Scotland, also 

 parts o£ tlie far north of the mainland, are chosen by this 

 Skua for its breeding quarters. The nest is simply a 

 slight hollow, sparingly lined with a few bits of withered 

 grass, and is situated on wild, unfrequented moors and 

 bog-land. The eggs number two, but upon occasion one 

 ovAy is found, and sometimes as many as three. They vary 

 from olive-green to reddish-brown in ground colour, 

 spotted and blotched with blaekish-brown and light grey. 

 I have seen them harmonise so closely with their surround- 

 ings that I had a great difficulty in finding them, though 

 I had marked the whereabouts of the uest within a few feet 

 through my binoculars. 



THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Low rocky islands are the favourite breeding places of 

 this Gull, and they are now particularly numerous at 

 the Fame Islands, where I have seen the eggs lying about 

 so thickly that the visitor had to exercise great care to 

 avoid treading upon them. Sometimes quite a large 

 quantity of seaweed is used in making the nest, at others a 

 few bits of gi'ass and roots, and in some cases, where bare 

 peat earth is available, simply a hollow is scratched out. 

 The eggs as a rule number three, but sometimes only two 

 are met with. I have seen it stated that the bird occa- 

 sionally lays four, but out of the hundreds of nests I have- 

 examined I have never had the luck to see that number. 

 In coloration they vary from pale greyish-green to reddish- 

 brown, blotched and spotted with blackish- and greyish- 



