Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - skua

 noun  Etymology: New Latin, from Faeroese skugvur; akin to Old Norse skufr tassel, ~, Old English sceaf sheaf — more at sheaf  Date: 1678 any of various seabirds (genus Catharacta) related to the jaegers: as  a. great ~  b. a bird (C. maccormicki) that resembles but is slightly smaller than the great ~ and that breeds in the Antarctic