1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 37 



Grebes, loons, auks, guillemots and puffins, or the diving 

 birds, subsist almost exclusively on fish. Their flesh, dark- 

 colored, tough and "fishy," is seldom eaten ; the feathers, 

 however, of some of these divers, particularly the showy 

 coverings of the grebes and loons, are largely used for milli- 

 nery purposes, and also for the manufacture of muffs, etc. 



The jaegers, gulls and terns are mainly piscivorous in 

 habits. The jaegers have been truly termed marine rap- 

 tores. The parasitic jaeger obtains his living, we are 

 informed by reliable writers, chiefly by pursuing the terns 

 and smaller gulls, and compelling them to disgorge the food 

 they have captured. Some gulls and terns (especially the 

 latter) prey to a limited extent on different kinds of insects, 

 such as large beetles, grasshoppers, etc. Certain of these 

 birds are also good scavengers, and may be seen in harbors 

 or on the rivers feeding on almost any kind of animal matter 

 which is floating on the water's surface. The beautiful 

 plumage of the smaller gulls and terns unfortunately finds 

 a ready market for the ornamentation of lovely woman's 

 head-dress, and as a natural consequence thousands of these 

 harmless birds are slain every year along the sea-coasts. 

 Gulls and terns are gregarious, not onlv during migrations, 

 but also when breeding. Some species assemble in large 

 companies to rear their young. At certain breeding places 

 along the Atlantic coast, men and boys, known as " egg- 

 hunters," make a business of collecting the eggs of these 

 birds for table purposes. The young of a few species of 

 gulls and several of the terns are said to be equally as 

 palatable as a snipe or woodcock. 



The petrels inhabit the high seas, and subsist, it is stated, 

 exclusively on different forms of marine animal life. 



Cormorants inhabit both fresh and salt water. They are 

 most proficient divers, and they swim with all the ease and 

 grace of a duck. Their food consists almost entirely offish, 

 which they pursue and catch when swimming beneath the 

 water's surface. 



Ducks, geese and swans are by far the most important of 

 all aquatic birds. The mergansers or fishing ducks, and 

 certain sea ducks, subsist almost wholly on a diet of fish 

 and other marine animal life, which renders their flesh 



