32 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Birds in the black plumage are rare in the spring-, but are some- 

 times seen ; and at the Yukon mouth, on May 31st, I found a pair 

 in this plumage mated. The, eggs are laid upon the mossy knolls 

 or uplands in their haunts about the 5th of June. The nest is 

 merely a depression in the moss, containing two eggs indistin- 

 guishable from the next species. {Nciso?i.) 



38. Long-tailed Jaeger. Buffon Skua. 



Stericora rius longicaudus V i e i l l . 1 8 1 9 . 



Said not to breed farther south than lat. 70"' N., in Greenland. 

 (Arct, Ma?i.) A very few of these birds visited the upper waters 

 of Cumberland gulf in June, 1871, and soon disappeared ; I doubt 

 if they breed there. {Kmncliji) Occasionally seen from Green- 

 land south along the Labrador coast. {Packard^ Newfoundland. 

 {Reeks.) Coast of Nova Scotia,. {Dozvns) In the Bay of Fundy. 

 (^Boardman.) Gulf of St. Lawrence. {Diotme.) Occasionally 

 taken in Hudson bay. {Dr. R. Bell.) Less common than the 

 former species in Roes Welcome and seen occasionally in the 

 waters to the northward. {A. /. Lotv.) South to Lapierre 

 House on the Mackenzie river. {Ross.) Quite abundant along 

 the Anderson river and on the Barren Grounds, and also on the 

 Arctic coast. {Macfarlane.) Two specimens were shot at Ron- 

 deau, Lake Erie, October 2nd, 1900, by Mr. F. D, Bates, and 

 another at the same place by Mr. E, Burk, October loth, 1906. 

 It hai not been satisfactorily decided whether this last bird is the 

 long-tailed or parasitic jaeger. {W. Sminders.) A rare bird at 

 Aweme, Man, One was taken May 17th, 1903. {Criddlc.) Once 

 shot and several times seen during September, 1890 and 1891, at 

 Sumas lake, B.C. (Brooks.) This is the most common of the 

 jaegers on the Alaskan coast ; rare on the Pribilof islands. They 

 are abundant on the low coast of Bering strait, but, except at 

 Kotzebue sound, they are not common beyond that point. {Nel- 

 son.) Arrives earlier at St. Michael and in greater numbers that. 

 its congeners ; rarely seen on the eastern Aleutian islands, but a 

 few pairs are said to breed near St. Michael. {Tnrfier.) This is 

 the most common species of jaeger at Point Barrow, and is rather 

 abundant, but none breed. {Murdoch.) 



Breeding Notes. — The pairing occurs with a great amount 

 of noisy demonstration on the part of several rivals, but once 



