AUKS, GULLS, AND PLOVERS 
35 
Of the Skua gulls there are several species. Their coloration differs from that of the 
gulls just described in being confined to shades of brown. One of their most remarkable 
traits is that of piracy. They await their cousins the Gulls coming shoreward from the sea 
with newly swallowed fish, and then, giving chase, compel the gull, in order to lighten itself 
and escape, to disgorge its hard-won meal. So swift of flight is the skua that the ejected morsel 
is caught before it reaches the water. 
THE PLOVER TRIBE 
Photo by C. N. Mavroyeni^ 
\_Smyrna 
WOODCOCK 
The female is larger than the male 
Birds of very various size, 
shape, and coloration are i ncl uded 
in this group — that is to say, 
birds which vary much super- 
ficially, but, it must be under- 
stood, all undoubtedly closely 
related. In England they are 
to be met with almost ever\'- 
where. The seashore, the lonely 
moorland, the desolate marshes, 
the river’s brink, or the woods — 
all these shelter some one or 
other of the Plover Tribe. Like 
the Gulls, many adopt a dis- 
tinctive dress for the courting- 
season, which, however, is some- 
times worn by the males only, 
and not by both sexes alike, 
as in the Gulls. One of the 
most striking and familiar 
instances of this change is seen 
in the Grey Plover. In winter 
the plumage of the upper-parts 
of this bird is dusky grey, that of 
the under-parts pure white ; but 
in the spring the former is ex- 
changed for a beautifully v^arie- 
gated mantle of black and white, 
and the latter becomies uniformly 
jet-black, save the under tail- 
coverts, which remain white. 
In the Dunlin, again, we 
have a similar change, the 
upper-parts being in winter grey, 
the under-parts white : in the 
spring the former become black, 
with an admi.xture of rust-colour, and the latter black in so far as the breast is concerned. 
OYSTER-CATCHER ON ITS NEST 
Three eggs are laid in a slight holloiu in the ground. The oyster-catcher is one of the most 
nvary of the Plo ver Tribe, and very dijficult to approach 
but the abdomen remains white. 
In many of that section of the Plover Tribe distinguished as “ Wading-birds,” the changes 
which take place in the spring in the plumage of the upper-parts resemble those already 
instanced, but the under-parts turn to a rich chestnut instead of black. This occurs in the 
forms known as the GODWITS, Knots, and S.ANDERI.INGS, for example. 
In all the instances so far quoted, both male and female are coloured alike, but, as already 
hinted, occasionally the change of plumage affects the male only. This is the case with the 
