114 ^'EW YOKK STATE MUSEUM 



under parts lighter; bill and feet blackish; iris brown; voting similar but 

 more streaked about the head and neck. 



Length 20-22 inches; wing 16; tail 6; central feather elongated .5; 

 bill 2.1; gape 3; tarsus 2.7; middle toe and claw 3.1; the young much less, 

 the wing being of different shape and only 12.25 ""^ length. 



The Skua, or Sea-hawk may be recognized from the other jaegers by 

 its greater size and robustness. It is a rare bird on this side of the Atlantic, 

 although it mav breed in the region of Batfin bay. It has been taken at 

 least three times off the coast of Massachusetts. There are three records 

 for this State, the first being recorded by William Butcher, Ank, 3: 432. 

 The bird was found dead on the beach by Mr M. F. King, of the 

 Amagansett Life Saving Station, Suffolk county, N. Y., on March 17, 

 1886. It had undoubtedly been washed ashore and frozen in the ice during 

 the gale of January 9th preceding. The second specimen was secured on 

 Niagara river, in the spring of 1886, by the late Charles Linden of Buffalo, 

 N. Y., and is reported in Bergt old's List of the Birds of Buffalo and Vicinity, 

 also in the Auk, 6: 331. A third specimen struck the Montauk Point Light 

 August 10, 1896. Its wing was sent to the Biological Siurvey in Washington 

 where it was identified by Dr Fisher. 



Stercorarius pomarinus (Temminck) 

 Pomarinc Jaeger 



Plate 4 



Larus pomarinus Temminck. Manuel d'Ornithologie. 1815. 514 

 Lestris pomarinus DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 316, fig. 292 

 Stercorarius p o m a r i n ti s A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 36 



stcrcora'rius, Lat., pertaining to dung; pomari'nus. incorrectly formed for 

 pomatorhinus , Gr. Truifia, ttw^tos, a flap, and pi's, pivoi, nose, 

 alluding to the saddle or cere 



Description. Adult breeding plumage: Upper parts brownish black 

 or sooty slate ; under parts white; neck all the way around white, except 

 the pointed feathers which are yellow; crown, lores and sides of chin black; 

 bill horn color, black at tip; feet black; upper part of tarsus light bluish; 

 iris brown. Dark phase: Nearly unifonn blackish brown, black on the 

 crown and lightening to smoky brown on the belly; a slight gilding of the 



