246 BACKBONED ANIMALS. 
ities of the eagle, being a bird of prey. The beak is 
sharp and curved, the claws at the tip of the webbed toes 
are sharp and talon-like. They prey upon the prions and 
other birds, dragging them from their holes, or hunting 
them after the fashion of the hawk. In general color they 
are brown. They are so ferocious as to even attack man.* 
In the penguin-streets of Tristan da Cunha the nests of 
skuas are seen on mounds, surrounded by well-picked 
skeletons of prions. The eggs are large and two in num- 
ber. The northern skua (Lestris parasitica) is equally pred- 
atory, attacking other birds, sucking the eggs of the eider 
and other ducks often to such an extent that they can not 
fly away. It breeds on the unsheltered rocks, forming no 
nest, the eggs, two in number, being per- 
fectly protected by their resemblance to 
the ground. If, however, an enemy ap- 
proaches, the skuas shuffle off as if wound- 
ed, and thus avert the danger. 
Order IV. Steganopodes (/oot-cov- 
ered). General 
Characteristics.— 
The birds of this 
order are aquatic 
and characterized 
by short, partly- 
hidden, completely 
webbed feet, and 
an unfeathered 
pouch beneath the Fic. 282.—Brown pelican (Pelecanus fuscus). 
bill capable in some 
of extraordinary expansion. The tropic birds, gannets, 
darters, and cormorants, are representatives. 
* Professor Moseley states that at Kerguelen’s Land and other 
localities they had to beat them off with clubs, and that when a duck 
was shot the skuas would often pounce upon it, so that two shots were 
required to obtain a single bird. 
