Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS

THE GULLS AND THEIR ALLIES

The Skuas

(Megakstris) feed principally upon fish, but they devour other birds, especially the young or such as are sickly or weak, and are also very fond of eggs, and on occasion will eat carrion of various kinds. In feeding, however, they rarely take the trouble to fish for themselves, but, following in the wake of more industrious Terns and smaller Gulls, they keep a watchful eye on them, and no sooner is one observed to have been successful than

they at once give chase, and, no matter how fast the frightened bird may fly, the grim pursuer is always there, and at last in sheer despair it disgorges the recently swallowed fish, which the Skua swoops to catch often before it reaches the water. Dr. Kidder, who studied the habits of the Southern Skua (M. antarctica) on Kerguelen Island, was at first deceived by its Hawk-like appearance,”its manner of flight, watchfulness of the ground over which it flew, and habit of perching in spots commanding a wide view, all suggesting this impression.”In order to ascertain if they would actually kill their own game, he threw toward a pair of them a half-fledged young Petrel as large as an ordinary domestic fowl. It was immediately pounced upon, killed, and partially devoured.

The nest consists usually of a slight hollow scratched in the ground and rudely lined with a few sticks or bits of grass, or occasionally it is placed on a bare rock.

The eggs, two in number, are of an olive-color with numerous spots of brown or chocolate, especially at the larger end. The birds are very artful in concealing the location of the nest or in leading the intruder away from it, but when it is once disclosed, they defend it with a fierceness hardly equaled by any other birds, — ravens, eagles, dogs, foxes, and even man being violently assailed, and not rarely put to rout. Dr. Kidder speaks of discovering a nest containing two eggs and was attacked at once by both birds, but after killing the male by a fortunate shot from a revolver and emptying the other chambers uneffectively at the female,”was kept standing nearly twenty minutes, pelting the enraged bird as she swooped down at my head, with the two eggs in plain sight but not daring to pick them up. A lucky throw finally disabled her, and I secured the eggs."

Four species of Megakstris are known, the Common or Great Skua (M. skua) of the North Atlantic, the Chilean Skua (M. chilensis) of southern South America, the Southern Skua (M. antarctica) of the islands of the Southern Ocean, and Maccormick's Skua (M. maccormicki) of the Antarctic continent. They are all largely solitary in their habits, each following a flock of Gulls or Terns.

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