POMARINE JAGER. 315 



POMARINE JAGER. 



(Lestris pomarina, Temm. ii. p. 793. Bonap. Synops. No. 305. 

 Richard. North. Zool. ii. p. 429. and Append. Parry's 2d. Voy. p. 

 361. No. 26. Sab. First Voy. Do. p. ccvi. p. 22. Esquimaux 

 Keask, Hudson's Bay Residents. Le Stercoraire raiji, Briss. 

 Orn. vi. p. 152. No. 2. tab. 13. fig. 2. [the young of the year.] also 

 Meyer, tab. 20. (Felsen Meve.) Larus parasiticus , Meyer, Yog. 

 Deut. fol. V. 2. heft. 21, [a good figure.] Audubon, ic. ined.) 



Sp, Charact. — Bill short, much carved ; long tail feathers rounded 

 at the end, and of the same breadth throughout; tarsus little more 



than 2 inches long, behind covered with strong asperities. Mult 



dark brown, beneath white ; feathers of the upper part of the 

 neck long, slender, and pointed, glossy yellow. Young wholly 

 brownish, varied with rufous. 



This species, like most of the others, chiefly inhabits the 

 Arctic seas of both continents, from whence they migrate 

 short distances in winter, and are then seen in Sweden 

 and Norway, and perhaps also in the Orkneys and the west 

 of Scotland ; the old very rarely visit the banks of the Rhine 

 and the coasts of the ocean ; the young are more given to 

 wandering, and are sometimes even seen upon the lakes of 

 Switzerland and Germany. According to Richardson the 

 Pomarine Yager is seen in the Arctic seas of America and 

 the northern outlets of Hudson's Bay. Mr. Audubon ob- 

 tained specimens on the coast of Labrador. It subsists on 

 putrid and other animal substances thrown up by the sea, 

 and also on fish and other matters which the Gulls disgorge 

 when pursued by it ; it also devours the eggs of sea birds. 

 It goes more to sea in winter, and also towards the south, 

 arriving at Hudson's Bay in May, coming in from seaward. 

 It is rare and accidental on the coast of the United States. 



The Pomarine Yager breeds in elevated spots in the 



