one can hardly find fault with the island-natives for
aiding them in their wanton depredations. This species
also breeds in Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, and
wanders southwards in the autumn and winter, but,
although occasionally met with on our eastern coasts,
and as far south as the Straits of Gibraltar at those
seasons, the Great Skua may be fairly regarded as rare in
Europe, away from its summer haunts. The " Bonxie,"
as this bird is called by the Shetlanders, breeds on the
ground on high moor-lands; the eggs are two in number;
and Mr. H. Saunders confirms, from personal experience,
the many stories that are related with regard to the
boldness of the parent-birds in defence of their young.
The two birds represented in the accompanying Plate
were most kindly sent to me as a present from the
proprietor of the island of Foula, and were taken from
the nest in the summer of 1891. They arrived at
Lilford at the end of August in charge of a native of
Foula, who had taken and reared them. This man
assured me that the " Bonxies " on Foula live to a great
extent by the capture of Kittiwakes and other sea-birds
during the breeding-season, and that they can easily
master all the other species that inhabit the island. The
day after their arrival at Lilford the two young birds,
though well fed, managed to drag an incautious American
Teal through the dividing wires of their respective compartments,
and, when visited in the morning, were found
upon the half-devoured carcase of their victim, which
was held down by the feet of the slayers, and torn to
pieces after the manner of an Eagle in like circumstance.
These birds are still in perfect health (August 1893),