SKUAS AND JAEGERS 



35 



they appeared, owing to their great variations in 

 pkmiage, all the way from the sooty phase to 

 that of the adult with white under parts. 



Jaegers are Aretic-breeding birds, not nesting 

 in colonies, like the Ciulls and Terns, hut in 



scattered pairs. Such destructive l)irds \vould 

 hardly make good colonizers. They are said to 

 be great nest-robbers, and woe to the bird which 

 leaves eggs or young exposed to these savages. 



1 l:-:Rr.i;KT K. Job. 



H 



>»: 



b\ H. K. J., 



Courtesy of Houghton Mitflin Cn. 



POMARINE JAEGER 

 In quest of a victim 



PARASITIC JAEGER 



Stercorarius parasiticus I Liiuitcns) 



A. O. l_'. Xuniher j; See (. olor I'l.ite 4 



Other Names. — Skait-bird ; Boatswain; Marline- 

 spike; Teaser; Dung Hunter; Man-o'-vvar ; Richard- 

 son's Jaeger ; Black-toed Gull ; .'\rctic Hawk Gull. 



General Description. — Length. 20 inches. Color 

 above, brownish-black; below, white. Two middle tail- 

 fratlirrs, iiarrou' and pointed, as ~cctl as ctoni/alcd. 



Color. — .'\dults in Breedinc Plum.-vge: Crown and 

 back of head, crested, the feathers sharp and stiff; 

 crown and whole upper parts, slaty brownish-black, 

 shading into black on wings and tail ; chin, tliroat, sides 

 of head, neck all around, and under parts, pure white, 

 the sharp feathers on back of neck, light yellow; under 

 tail-coverts, dusky ; bill, horn color, darker at end ; feet. 

 black: iris, brown. Xe.\ri.v .'\dui.t: Under parts, white 

 but mottled everywhere with dusky patches, heaviest 

 across breast, on sides, and under tail-coverts ; center 

 line of throat and abdomen, nearly pure white; feet, 

 witli small yellow blotches or not ; otherwise as in 

 breeding plumage. D.\rk Ph.\,se: Kntire plumage, 

 dusky, darker and more slate-colored above, li.ghter and 

 i/rowner below; crown, black; back of head and neck, 

 yellow; wings and tail, black: feet, black, Vofxt; of 

 •rnr '\'k.\k: Entire plumage, barred with rufous and 



brownish-black; yellowish-rufous i)revails on head and 

 neck with dark shaft line on each feather; these shaft 

 lines enlarge until between shoulders they occupy the 

 whole of each feather except a narrow rufous border; 

 0,1 breast rufous becomes almost white, with traverse 

 bars of brown, this pattern continuin.g over the entire 

 under parts; primaries, dusky, narrowly tipped with 

 rufous. 



Nest and Eggs. — X'e.st: .-V depression in the ground 

 near water, sjiarsely lined with grass and dead leaves, 

 Kr,(;s : 2 or ,3, olive, greenish, gray, or brown, marked 

 and blotched with shades of brown and pale lavender 

 over entire surface. 



Distribution. — Xorthern part <<i northern hemi- 

 sphere; breeds from northwestern .Alaska, Melville 

 Island, and northern Greenland soutli to .\lcutian 

 Islands, central Mackenzie, central Keewatin, an<l on 

 .Arctic islands of .Siberia and of northern Europe south 

 to Scotland ; winters from .Meutian Islands south to 

 California, from New Tuigland coast southward to 

 Brazil, in .Australia, and from the coast of Europe 

 south to the Cape of (jood Hope: casual in interior to 

 the Great Lakes, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado. 



