852 
BIRD-LIFE. 
follow every ship, that trusts herself on the bosom of the 
ocean, for miles on her journey, and accompany her from 
the open sea to the coast. Everywhere their presence 
may be regarded as heralding the latter, and as an 
infallible sign that it is not far distant. 
Up to the present time close upon fifty different species 
of these pretty, restless, quarrelsome birds, have been 
described, and a considerable number of them have been 
met with on the German coast. Their habits are every¬ 
where more or less alike, the Skuas alone differing from 
the general mass in the Falcon-like character of their 
mode of living: they answer to the Raven on land. They 
may justly be described as handsome, stately birds. Their 
principal colours are light bluish gray, white, and black ; 
the underneath portions of the body, head, and neck, are 
always white; the upper parts of a uniform bluish gray, 
or slate-colour. Young birds wear, for a long time, a 
dress resembling the colour of their down,—that is to say, 
a dark or light brownish yellow ground, waved and 
speckled with a darker tinge. Sometimes the white 
plumage of the adult bird is tinted with the softest rose- 
colour, which renders it so beautiful as to vie with the 
beauty of birds of really brilliant plumage. The wing- 
feathers are usually black, the beak and legs yellow or 
red. Some species have black faces and heads. The 
Skuas have a dullish dress. Some are not larger than a 
Jackdaw, while others are as large as an Eagle. 
Their build is excessively elegant, and not devoid of 
a certain amount of nobility: they walk well, and with 
measured steps, can run at a fair pace, swim in the 
heaviest sea with activity and “ bottom,” while their 
powers of flight are wonderful, even in the strongest 
gale. 
