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nCIIARDSON's SKUA. 
Low, too, "wlio gives an account of the Skuas on the Island 
of Foula, one of the Shetland group, describes the fury 
with which the birds attacked dogs and men who came 
near their quarters. He says: — ^When the inhabitants are 
looking after their sheep upon the hills, the Skua often 
attacks them in such a manner that they are obliged to 
defend themselves with their cudgels, held above their 
heads, on which it often kills itself.' 
The Pomarine Skua has the plumage of the upper parts 
blackish brown, that of the lower parts white. It is inferior 
in size to the common species, seldom measuring over 
twenty-two inches, and of a less robust make. It inhabits 
the Arctic seas, extending as far southward as Nova 
Scotia, and along the coasts of Europe beyond the British 
Channel. It does not appear to be a permanent resident 
in Britain, or to have been found breeding here ; but 
considerable numbers must frequent our coasts in autumn, 
winter, and spring, as many are recorded to have been 
seen, and not a few killed, in various parts of Scotland and 
England. 
Eichardson's Skua, a bird with many names, is much 
better knoAvn. It generally measures about twenty-one 
inches in length ; the male in summer has the upper part 
of the head, like the upper parts of the body, blackish 
brown ; the nape and upper sides of the neck yellowish 
white ; the shafts of the longer quills, like the back part 
of the forehead, the cheeks, throat, and lower parts of the 
body, are white ; the fore neck is tinged with brown. It 
may at once be distinguished from the common Skua by 
the comparative shortness of the two middle pointed tail 
feathers. 
Macgillivray, after giving a beautifully vivid descrip- 
tion of the mode of flight and attack of this bold sea 
robber, which, he says, is the terror of the lesser Gulls 
and Terns, goes on to state that ' these birds are rather 
numerous in autimin along the shores of the Firths of 
Forth and Tay. Along our eastern shores they are 
met with here and there. In the Firths of Beauly and 
Cromarty, they are at least as frequent as in those of 
the south of Scotland. On the Solway and in the Clyde 
