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SKUA
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SKUA ,' the name for. a See also:long` while given to certain of the Laridae (see Gunn), birds which sufficiently differ in structure, See also:appearance and habits to justify their separation as a distinct genus, Stercorarius (Lestris of some writers), or even subfamily, Stercorariinae. See also:Swift of See also:flight, powerfully armed, but, above all endowed with extraordinary courage, they pursue their weaker See also:cousins, making the latter disgorge their already swallowed See also:prey, which is nimbly caught before it reaches the See also:water; and this See also:habit, often observed by sailors and fishermen, has made these predatory, parasitic birds locally known as "Teasers," "Boatswains," ; 2 and, from a misconception of their
1 Thus written by Hoier (circa 1604) as that of a Faeroese See also:bird (hodie Skuir) an example of which he sent to Clusius (See also:Exotic. Auctarium, p. 367). The word being thence copied by See also:Willughby has been generally adopted by See also:English authors, and applied by them to all the congeners of the See also:species to which it was originally See also:peculiar.
2 This name in See also:seamen's See also:ornithology applies to several other kinds of birds, and, though perhaps first given to those of this See also:group, is nowadays most commonly used for the species of TROPIC-BIRD (q.v.), the projecting See also:middle feathers of the tail in each See also:kind being
resort to breed, they seek See also:food of their own taking, whether small mammals, little birds, See also:insects or berries; but even here their uncommon courage is exhibited, and they will defend their homes and offspring with the utmost spirit against any intruder; repeatedly See also:shooting down on See also:man or See also:dog that invades their haunts, while every bird almost, from an See also:eagle down-wards, is repelled by buffets or something worse.
The largest species known is the .Stercorarius catarrhactes of ornithologists—the " Skooi " or " Bonxie " of the Shetlanders, a bird in See also:size equalling a See also:herring-See also:gull, Larus argentatus. The sexes do not differ appreciably in, See also:colour, which is of a dark See also: Zool. Society, 1876, pp. 317-332), says that it presents three See also:local forms—one occurring from New See also:Zealand to See also:Norfolk See also:Island and past Kerguelen See also:Land to the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope, another restricted to the Falklands, and the third hitherto only met with near the south-polar See also:ice. On the western See also:coast of South See also:America, making its way into the Straits of See also:Magellan, and passing along the coast so far as Rio Janeiro, is found S. chilensis, distinguished among other characters by the See also:cinnamon tint of its lower plumage. Three other smaller species of the genus are known, and each is more widely distributed than those just mentioned, but the See also:home of all is in the more See also:northern parts of the See also:earth, though in See also:winter two of them go very far south, and, See also:crossing the See also:equator, show themselves on the seas that See also:wash the Cape of Good Hope, See also:Australia, New Zealand and See also:Peru. The first of them is S. pomatorhinus (often incorrectly spelt pomarinus), about the size of a See also:common gull, Lanus Gnus, and presenting, irrespective of See also:sex, two very distinct phases of plumage, one almost wholly sooty-brown, the other particoloured--dark above and white on the See also:breast, the sides of the See also:neck being of a glossy See also:straw-colour, and the lower See also:part of the neck and the sides of the See also:body barred with brown; but a singular feature in the adults of this species is that the two median tail-feathers, which are elongated, have their See also:shaft See also:twisted towards the tip, so that in flight the lower surfaces of their webs are pressed together vertically, giving the bird the appearance of having a disk attached to its tall. The second and third species so closely resemble each other, except in size, that their distinctness was for many years unperceived, and in consequence their nomenclature is an almost bewildering See also:puzzle. H. Saunders (loc. cit.) thinks that the larger of them, which is about the size of a black-headed gull, should stand as S. crepidatus, and the smaller as S. parasiticus, though the latter name has been generally used for the larger when that is not termed, as it often is, S. richardsoni, a name that correctly applies only to whole-coloured examples, for this species too is dimorphic. Even its proper English name 4 is disputable, but it has been frequently called the See also:Arctic gull or Arctic skua, and it is by far the commonest of the genus in See also:Britain, and perhaps throughout the northern hemisphere. It breeds abundantly on many of the Scottish islands, and in most countries lying to the northward. The See also:nest is generally in long heather, and contains two eggs of a dark See also:olive-colour, suffused with still darker brown pitches. Birds of either phase of plumage pair indiscriminately, and the See also:young show by their earliest feathers whether they will prove whole or parti-coloured; but in their immature plumage the upper See also:surface is barred with See also:pale reddish brown. The smallest species, commonly known in English as the long-tailed or See also:Buffon's generally likened to the marlinespike that is identified with the See also:boatswain's position; but perhaps the authoritative See also:character assumed by both bird and officer originally suggested the name. ' It has long been subjected to persecution in these islands, a See also:reward being paid for its See also:head. On the other See also:hand, in the Shetlands a See also:fine was exacted for its See also:death, as it was believed to protect the See also:sheep against eagles. Yet for all this it would long ago have been extirpated there, and have ceased to be a See also:British bird in all but name, but for the See also:special See also:protection afforded it by several members of two families (Edmonston and See also:Scott of Melby), long before it was protected by See also:modern legislation. ' It is the " Fasgadair " of the See also:Hebrides, the " Shooi " of the Shetlands, and the " Scouti-See also:allen " of the fishermen on the See also:east coast of See also:Scotland. 196 skua, is not known to exhibit the remarkable dimorphism to which the two preceding are subject. It breeds abundantly in some seasons on the fells of See also:Lapland, its appearance depending chiefly on the presence of lemmings (Lemmus norvegicus), on which it mainly preys. All these three species occasionally visit the southern coasts of See also:Europe in large flocks, but their visitations are highly irregular. (A. 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