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generally in pairs, and often remained for a long time in one spot on the' ground. We did not 

 succeed in finding their nest, though we frequently spent hours together in the search for it. Our 

 Samoyede servant informed us that they bred far inland. On one occasion we thought that we 

 had discovered the young in down. It was on the 3rd July. We were strolling over a piece of 

 low marshy ground near the Petchora, on the mainland, when we caught sight of a large flock 

 of Buffon's Skuas in the distance. Just at that moment we rose a pair of Grey Plovers ; and 

 Harvie-Brown stopped to watch them, whilst I marched away after the Skuas. We had generally 

 seen these birds hawking like Tern over the tundra in pairs or in little parties. We had found 

 them wild and difficult to approach, and had hitherto only succeeded in shooting very few. As 

 I neared the spot where this large flock were to be seen, I watched them all alight on the ground 

 near the great river. I walked towards them, and soon caught sight of about a score Siberian 

 Herring-Gulls on the ground to the right. Before I had got within a hundred yards of them 

 they rose and flew towards me. The Skuas also rose and followed them. I let the Gulls go by, 

 and took the nearest Skua as soon as he came within range. Fortunately I brought him down. 

 I was now surrounded by about a hundred or a hundred and fifty Buffon's Skuas flying in all 

 directions, generally about ten within shot. This continued for about twenty minutes, during 

 which I shot off all the cartridges I had left, missing of course many birds, but leaving seven 

 killed and wounded on the field. Harvie-Brown then came up and bagged five more, when the 

 birds retired, all except one, which kept continually flying towards one or other of us, every now 

 and then making a downward swoop over our heads like a Tern. We soon discovered the cause 

 of this bird's anxiety — a young Skua in down a day or two old. We searched for nests or eggs, 

 but in vain. We did not shoot the parent bird, as we had already a dozen to carry home. 

 Arrived at our head quarters we discovered that one of the dozen birds was a Richardson's Skua; 

 so that our young in down became unidentified. The Skuas were very noisy, continually making 

 a cry like hack, hack, as they flew towards us. They screamed wildly as they flocked together. 

 As soon as our backs were turned they all came back to the same place. Buffon's Skua looks 

 like a great Black Tern on the wing, often hovering in the air like a Kestrel or a Tern, and is 

 in other ways very Tern-like in its habits. We found that the birds we had shot had been 

 feeding upon beetles and cranberries. On the following day we returned to the ground. The 

 large flock had gone ; only about a dozen remained. We watched them for an hour, and shot 

 one. I then noticed a Skua making its alarm-note on the ground, as if we were too near its nest. 

 I whistled for Harvie-Brown to come up; and we lay down for an hour about 120 yards apart. 

 The Skua kept flying about from one place to another, seldom remaining long in one locality. 

 It visited one place, however, four times, and rested there longer than at the other places. It 

 never ran about on the ground as the Grey Plover does in similar circumstances. The fourth 

 time it rested on this place Harvie-Brown and I rose together ; we followed each his own bearing, 

 and in half a minute crossed each other's track at the nest with two eggs. The bird was not far 

 off, and was shamming lameness to attract our attention. Harvie-Brown took a few strides towards 

 it and shot, not a Buffon's Skua, but, to our surprise and disgust, only a Richardson's Skua. On 

 the 9th July we visited this part of the tundra again and found the large flock of Buffon's Skuas 

 had returned ; some were on the moor, and many swimming in the river. At Dovinik we found 

 Buffon's Skua quite as common as Richardson's Skua, and ascertained that it does not confine 



