POMARINE JAEGER. 



Stercorarius pomarinus. 



Char. Light phase : Top of head and upper parts sooty brown or 

 dusky ; neck and under parts white, the neck tinged with yellow. Dark 

 phase: Entirely dark sooty brown or slaty black ; the two middle tail- 

 feathers project beyond the other and are twisted. Bill dark gray, 

 tipped with black ; legs and feet black. Length about 21 inches. 



Some naturalists think the dark phase assumed by this genus is merely 

 melanistic ; but numerous e.xamples are met with that combine variations 

 of the two, these " pied " forms being in the majority rather than excep- 

 tional. Young birds are more or less mottled with buff. 



A^est. On a dry knoll of a moorland marsh or tundra, sometimes on 

 a rock, — a mere hollow stamped in the moss. 



Eggs. 2 ; pale to dark olive, tinged with russet and boldly marked 

 with brown; average size 2.35 X 1-65. 

 VOL. II. — 17 



