El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-20
Feathered Pirate

~ OWN on the big treacherous
sand bank which ran out far
- into the sea there appeared one
morning a big, soOty hued bird. He
had come south with the cold north
east wind
big as some of the larger sea gulls
that were standing about on the
sand banks, too The big herring SullS
in their beautiful plumage Tor in
or three inches.
This bird. although gull-Hke. was
darker; his wings seemed longer,
sharper; his beak had a more deadly
look, as also had his claws. There was
something, too, more 'rakish" in his
appearance than in that of a gull.
Then suddenly he rose and swept
away out to sea He Travelled at great
speed, and one saw at once that he
was a more wonderful flyer than even
the sea Sulls themselves.
And, as he went. one could hear his
wild, fierce cry drifting across the
-Skea, skea," he called. and then
one knew what he Was-a skua, an
Arctic skua, to be exact, a first cOus-
in of the gUlls.
An hour later he returned and swept
away over the rolling. mOOrland to see
II Mother Earth would not be kinder
than Father Neptune in according a
meal for a poor. innocent pirate
And Mother Earth, apparently, was
from the sea. came a grouse. The
grouse was planning down from the
high hillside, if may so put it faster
than was good for any bird, broad
side on as often as beak first, and
with a dropping head 1t had been
fired at and wounded
There was at this place, almost d.
rectly beneath the bird. a small lake
lying placid and smooth, and into this
1t tumbled headlOng.
The skua at once circled round on
@rr~r.
let himself down to the circle of the
water and settled on it.
There seemed TO be nothing stirring
the CLASSY surface and no beast or
For a few seconds he swan quietly
round the dying grouse. Then with
swift rush, and one scientific lab
with his sword sharp beak, he de-
delivered the merciful blow which
crashed in the wounded ones skull
Then, Selling the grouse by the neck,
he endeaVOred to rise, to half carry,
half tow the prize TO a little islet not
far away, there the more easily to
feed. But the grouse would not move.
He tugged he let go his hold and
secured a better, he tried to swim, he
tried to fly, his big wings churned the
water into spray. but never an inch
could he drag the dead grouse 1t was
as II II were anchored by a cable.
But worse was to follow for the
limp body. not satisfied with resisting
MS efforts with a strength certainly
began to move away on its own ac-
''Skea' shrieked the skua, and
hurled himself upon the corpse with
quite evident rage If he had tugged
hard before, now ne tugged dOubly
hard, and, for a space, he checked the
drltt OF the grouse-at any rate, just
held il mOtiOnless.
Then he distinctly felt several sharp
and vicious tugs, as if some one had
the grouse on string and was pull
ing II Then, without warning the
him in the act, as though the string
had suddenly been released
Next moment he shot into the air
with a terrified yell.
The skua did not wait to argue the
matter he dropped the prize He
could capture fish himself, but there
was size limit to his captures.
Sweeping onward over the rolling
moor, the sea pirates quick eyes
presently spotted a rabbit which ap-
peared to have been bereft suddenly of
its senses
silently he swept down upon the
troubled bunny. and glided close over
Its head Thinking it must be wound
ed, ne had already dropped his claws
and drawn back his beak. ready to
grip and strike. when TO his horror,
four 1.-THE, lean, cruel little brown
StOatS thrust their heads out of the
heather and chartered at him. So
close were they that one sprang up to
his breast, but it only got a mOuthful
OF 1edIheESs winch came out, letting
1t fall back with a yell of rage.
After that the pirate returned to
the sea and the first thing he saw
was baby pOrpOise stranded in the
shadows In a very few seconds he
had helped that baby pOrpOise to die
quickly Then he set TO on the ban
quet of his lifetime.
He was still feeding half an hour
later when, from far away on the rolling
moor above him. a bullet came whist
ling dOWnWards. He put up his head
at the sound. Rather he half put il
up He had not time to do more. and
IN that instant he heard the report OF
the rifle and dropped dead 1t was
a pretty shot. SO yards exactly, taken Z
with a telescope sight
After all said the man who owned
that land, as he put his rifle under
his arm and strOlled to the dead bird, {
"One must draw the line somewhere. /
If he'd only have kept to his sea rob l
berry 1 shouldn't have cared, but /
must protect my game and rabbits I
besides he'll look well in a glass case, |
anyway"