710 THE PARASITIC JAEGER. 
Migrations.—Spring: May. May 27, 1907; May 5, 1908; May 13, 1908 
(Seattle). Fall; Aug. 31-Sept. 30, 1904 (Blaine) ; Sept. 9, 1908 ( Victoria). 
Authorities.—Edson, Auk, Vol. XI. Jan. 1894, p. 73. B. E. 
Specimens.—Prov. b. E. 
HARD upon the migrating hosts of Terns come these cruel tyrants of 
the sea, the Jaegers. Despicable in that they have turned traitor to their own 
kind, and in that they harass the least as well as the greatest of that kind, they 
nevertheless provoke admiration and astonishment by their gracefulness, their 
skillfulness, and their saucy bravado. Every line in the Jaeger’s make-up is 
cut for speed. Once its gleaming, covetous eye is cast upon a victim, it is no 
question of escape, but only a matter of detail in the terms of capitulation. 
A tern catches a herring, and while it is disposing of its catch, the free- 
booter hurries up and dives at the tern suggestively. The Jaeger makes no 
attempt to snatch the fish, but it dives under its victim, jostling it each time, 
and forcing it up into the air. The tern twists this way and that, screaming 
protestingly, but anon drops the fish, which the Jaeger snatches deftly in mid- 
air. Not content with this ransom, which is instantly bolted, the bandit de- 
mands to know whether the victim has any more fish secreted about his person, 
and harries the hapless wight until the contents of the crop are disgorged, or, 
if already empty, until the victim clearly establishes his poverty. 
Jaegers frequently hunt in pairs, and when so fortified are able to suc- 
cessfully handle much larger subjects. A Glaucous-winged Gull could nearly 
eat a Jaeger alive, if he could only get at him. But the parasites are too adroit, 
too elusive, and too desperately persistent. ‘The Gull hates to do it, but also 
he hates to be buffeted and hustled away from the fishing-grounds: “Here, 
take it, you scum, and be off with you!” 
Parasitic Jaegers pass thru our borders in immense numbers in May and 
again in September. They do not, of course, move in flocks, like terns, for no 
territory could support such wholesale brigandage; but at the height of the 
season, One may see a dozen birds in the course of a steamboat ride from 
Tacoma to Seattle, or a hundred between Seattle and Victoria. The Jaegers 
are not dependent alone upon forced charity, for they devour offal on shore, 
or glean tidbits from the surface of the water, quite after the fashion of other 
gulls. Upon discovering a morsel below, the Jaeger checks its flight suddenly, 
with a display of the characteristic tail-feathers which is quite gratifying to 
the watchful student, and it settles daintily upon the water to investigate at 
feisure or to snatch and rise with perfect grace. In its northern home, the 
lowlands and coastal marshes of Alaska, it is said to hunt a great deal inshore, 
where it catches shrew-mice, lemmings, and even small birds. It is also very 
fond of eggs, and destroys great numbers of them in the course of a season, 
not only those of kittiwakes and murres, but of ducks and snipe as well. On 
