POMARINE JAEGER 



36. Stercorarius pomarinus. 21 inches. 



Jaegers are more slender in form than the Skuas, but 

 like them are piratical in their habits, preying chiefly 

 upon terns. Off Chatham, Mass., I have often watched 

 them in pursuit of the graceful terns, but, excellent 

 fliers as the latter birds are, they were always over- 

 taken and forced to drop the fish that they carried, and 

 the jaeger would rarely miss catching it as it fell. This 

 species has two color phases independent of sex or age. 

 In the light plumage the top of the head is black; rest 

 of the upper parts and the under tail coverts brownish 

 black; underparts and bases of primaries, white. Dark 

 phase, Entirely blackish brown except the white shafts 

 to wing feathers and bases of primaries. In any plu- 

 mage they can be distinguished from the other species 

 by the rounded, lengthened central tail feathers. 



Nest. A hollow in the ground in marshy places. The 

 two eggs are olive brown spotted with black. 



Range. Northern hemisphere, breeding north of the 

 Arctic Circle; winter from Mass, southward. 

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