THE COM^ION SKUA. 
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are somewliat shorter, about as broad as high at the base, 
flattened towards the end, straight, with the tips decurved. 
The first of the above named is, except the last (which is 
a rare bird with us), the largest as well as the commonest 
of the British species, measuring about twenty-four inches 
in length. The general colour of the upper part of this 
species is dark greyish brown, streaked with brownish yel- 
low; the larger quills are brownish black, having their 
shafts and basal parts white, forming a conspicuous patch 
of that colour on each wdng ; the tail is brownish black. 
COMMON SKUA. 
This bird, like its congeners, is said to utter a sharp 
shrill cry, which resembles the word Skua, or Skui, hence 
the common name applied to the genus. It is seldom met 
with on the coasts of England or Ireland, or even on those 
of the south of Scotland ; it does not occur in the Hebrides, 
and but rarely even in the Orkneys. In the Shetland 
Isles it was formerly not unfrequent, although even there 
it had few breeding-places. Mr. Dunn, wdio visited these 
islands in 1831 and 1833, shot a considerable number, 
although he says several j^arties from the south, and the 
officers of a cutter stationed in Rona's Yoe for two or three 
months, had almost extirpated them in that part. He says 
that he once saw a pair of these birds beat off a large eagle 
from their breeding-place on Eona's Hill. The Eev. Mr. 
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