AUSTRALIAN SKUA. 
leaves its egg for but a dozen yards the skuas pounce upon it. Such a case 
happened while two of our party held an albatross for the purpose of photo- 
graphing its nest ; its egg was pierced by an impudent marauder in a moment. 
We also discovered two albatroses sitting upon eggs thus destroyed, the 
resulting odour apparently not seriously inconveniencing the birds. 
“ At the period of my visit to Antipodes Island most of the birds had 
hatched their eggs, and the young ones attempted to hide themselves by 
crouching close to the ground or crawling into a crevice. Meantime the parent 
birds swooped down quite close to us, and with loud screams essayed to drive 
us away. I struck one with the rim of my land net as it flew past, but another 
bird whose young one I had picked up knocked off my cap, which I hastily 
replaced. 
“ When drawing the seine net we were always objects of interest to the 
skuas. They alighted close to us, and walked over the net as it lay on the 
beach. When driven away they flew but a short distance, and soon returned. 
It was not safe to leave anything in the shape of specimens on the beach : 
a shag obtained by a member of the party being rendered useless by a couple 
of sea-hawks after a few minutes’ engagement. 
“ A member of the party having obtained a special permit to secure a 
seal for scientific purposes, one of these animals was killed at Enderby Island, 
and the carcase minus the head was left on the beach. This immediately 
attracted a number of skua gulls. One bird took possession by standing on 
the carcase, and in the most determined manner possible drove away all other 
comers. I approached the bird within 4 ft. or 5 ft. and took the photograph. 
... As a good instance of the disre'gard of the presence of man, I may men- 
tion that the bird then hopped off the carcase between it and myself, and I 
very much surprised it by catching it by the legs. I released it, but it soon 
returned, to find its position usurped by another bird. Filhol found remains 
of rats in the stomachs of the skuas. 
“ The following is clipped from a recent issue of the Otogo Daily Ti^nes : 
‘ The skua gull we are told is following on the evil courses of the Kea, and is 
making sad havoc amongst the island flocks. His delinquencies have been 
specially noted at Campbell Island. There he is understood to have relinquished 
his cutomary sea-faring pursuits, and devoted his attention exclusively^ to the 
pastoral interest. No sooner does the sheap get down on its back than he 
is down upon it like a flash, picking out its eyes, and otherwise assisting it 
to a rapid despatch. As we understand it, this is altogether a new departure, 
and the probabilities are that we may hear more about it in the lambing 
season.’ ”* 
* Waite, Subant. Isl. New Zeal., p. 556, 1909. 
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