THE SKUA GULL, 
621 
side to side with extended pinions. Sometimes the bird does bend the last joint, but appar- 
ently merely for the purpose of checking its progress, like a ship backing her topsails. It 
is found in the Southern Seas. 
The Black-footed Albatross ( Diomedia nigripes) is abundant on the Pacific coast. 
The Short-tailed is also common on that coast. .Its characteristic feature is its extremely short 
tail, contrasting strongly with the preceding, as the latter has a long tail. Its length is about 
three feet, with an extent of wing seven feet. The Sooty Albatross (. Biomedia fused), of 
Audubon, is about the same in dimensions. The Yellow-nosed Albatross is enumerated as an 
American species. 
GROUP OF GULLS. 
THE GULLS. 
The large family of the Gulls we will discuss here. 
The Skua is a large, fierce, and powerful bird, tyrannizing in a shameful manner over its 
weaker relations, and robbing them without mercy. It feeds mostly on fish, but prefers taking 
advantage of the labors of others to working honestly for its own living. As the lesser Gulls 
are busily fishing, the Skuas hover about the spot, and as soon as a poor Gull has caught a 
fish, and is going off to his family, down comes the Skua upon him with threatening beak and 
rocking wings, and when the victim drops his burden, to escape with greater facility, the Skua 
darts after the falling fish, and snaps it up before it reaches the water. It also eats eggs and 
the smaller birds, a propensity which is shared by other Gulls than the Skua, 
