PARASITIC JAEGER. 41 



STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS. 

 13. Parasitic Jaeger. (37) 



Middle tail feathers finally projecting about four inches, taj)ering, acumi- 

 nate smaller; wing, 12-13; tarsus, 1.75 to 1.87; bill, 1.33 to 1.5; tail, 5-6, the 

 long feathers up to 9. Adult: — Upper parts, including top of head, slight 

 occipital crest, and crissum blackish-brown, deeper on wings and tail ; chin, 

 throat, sides of head, neck all round, and under parts to the vent, white ; sides 

 of the neck, pale yellow ; qiiills and tail feathers with whitish shafts ; feet, 

 blue and black. Younger: — Clouded with dusky in variable pattern and amount. 

 Young: — Barred crosswise with rufous and dusky; feet, mostly yellow. There 

 is a fuliginous stage, same as described in last species. 



Hab. — Northern part of northern hemisphere, southward in winter, to South 

 Africa and South America. Breeds in high northern districts, and winters 

 from the Middle States and California, southward to Brazil and Chili. 



Nest, on the ground on the margin of lakes or on islands, a depression in the 

 ground, lined with grasses, a few withered leaves and feathers. 



Eggs, two or three, varying much in markings ; olive-drab to green, gray 

 and brown, marked with several shades of chocolate, brown, and an obscure 

 shade of stone-gray distributed over the entire egg. 



The breeding place of the Arctic Skua is in the far north, but 

 many go a long way south to spend the winter, and a few call at the 

 lakes in Ontario by the way. At such places they are occasionally 

 seen singty, mixing with the gulls and terns which pass to the south 

 in the fall, but they are very watchful and seldom obtained. On the 

 16th October, 1886, Dr. Macallum secured a young female, which 

 was shot on the Grand River, near Dunnville, just after a severe 

 storm. 



In the report of the proceedings of the Ornithological Sub-section 

 of the Biological Section of the Canadian Institute, Ernest E. Thomp- 

 son mentions a specimen shot at Ashbridge's Bay, near Toronto, in 

 September, 1885, which is now mounted and in possession of Mr. 

 Loane of that city. 



In the same report mention is made of a fine adult specimen which 

 is in the museum of the Toronto University, marked "Toronto." 



Dr. Bell also reports taking a specimen at Fort George, James' 

 Bay. 



Turning to our usual authority for northern birds, Mr. Nelson 

 says : " This tyrannical bird occurs along the entire coast-line of the 

 Behring Sea, but is most numerous along the low marshy coast of 

 Norton Sound, and thence south to Kuskoquim River. 



" Its breeding range covers the entire region from the Aleutian 

 Islands north to the extreme northern part of the mainland. 



