STERCORARIUS SKUA I SKUA JAEGER. 343 



FAM. LARID^: JAEGERS, GULLS, TERNS AND 

 SKIMMERS. 



SKUA JAEGER. 



STERCORARIUS SKUA (Brilnn.) Coues. 



Chars. Bill shorter than middle toe without its claw ; tarsus 

 shorter than middle toe and claw. Central rectrices broad to the 

 tip, little projecting beyond the rest. Very large ; length about 

 24.00 ; wing, 17.00 ; tail, 6.00 ; tarsus, 2.75 ; middle toe and claw, 

 3.00 ; bill about 2.00, its depth at base 0.75. Plumage above 

 blackish-brown, varied with chestnut and whitish ; throat and 

 sides of neck yellowish-brown, streaked with white ; below, fusco- 

 rufous, with an ashy shade ; quills blackish, with white shafts 

 and a conspicuous large white area at base ; tail-feathers 

 blackish, white at the base ; very old birds are much darker and 

 more uniform brown, almost blackish above, rather smoky- 

 brown below. 



Though allowed a place in the New England list for 

 many years, upon more or less unsatisfactory evidence, 

 this species was with many others eliminated in 1875 by 

 Dr. Brewer, with the remark : " This, it is now generally 

 conceded, has no claim to be placed in the avi-fauna of 

 New England. Except as accidental in Greenland, it is 

 not even North American " (Pr. Bost. Soc., xvii, 1875, p. 

 453). But this statement is too sweeping. Dr. Brewer 

 himself has the pleasure of correcting it, in recording 

 the capture of a specimen on the Georges fishing banks, 

 off the Massachusetts coast, in July, 1878 (Bull. Nutt. 

 Club, iii, 1878, p. 1 88). This specimen was brought into 

 Gloucester, and examined by Prof. Baird. 



