STERCOHAUIID.E — THE SKUAS AND JAEGERS — STERCORARIUS. 



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tlio first wfi'k ill June ; after tliat date it was to be seen at every liour of the day, 

 si'iiirhinfj for leniiiiiiigH. It lays its two og},'s in hollows in the ground, and defends 

 tlicni with great bravery. On several oeeasions Captain Keihh-n had to strike at the 

 (lid birds with liis gun-l)arrel to defend himself against their attacks as he was rob- 

 liiiig their nests. He eould always easily distinguish this speeies from tlw jxirdsitliKii 

 liy tlu! mottled color of its tarsus and the webs of the feet, whieh in the latter are 

 l.iack. 



Mr. Kumlien mentions meeting with a few on the Ui)per Cund)erland waters in 

 .I'lne; but none breed so far s(nith. It is one of the first birds to eome in the spring; 

 ;iiiil — as he has no doubt — its range is more northerly than that of any other bird 

 (if tills genus. 



According to IMiddendorff this is one of the common species of Eastern Siberia, 

 where it is found to the extreme northern parts of the main land and also on the 

 islands north of Asia. Mr. G. (iillett gives it as (piite abundant on Nova Zembla, 

 especially on the west coast and in the Kara Sea, where it was found in all stages of 

 plumage. Every flock of Kittiwakes was attended by a number of the Skuas, which 

 swooped down upon them in the manner of llaw'.s, and obliged them to disgorge 

 their i)rey. Von Heuglin also found these birds very numerous in the same locality, 

 generally in pairs. 



Professor Newton mentions having seen a specimen of this Skua obtained by I'l'o- 

 fcssor Malmgren on the 12th of July near tlie IJussian Hut, in Advent Hay, Sjtitz- 

 hergen, who also observed it on two other occasions in Ice Sound ; but that it breeds 

 in that region has not been, as yet, definitely ascertained. 



According to Mr. Wheelwright, although it is occasionally seen in other parts of 

 Scandinavia, its peculiar breeding-home is on the Lapland fells. There it is not alw.ays 

 seen in the same numbers every year. The first eggs lie obtained were found on the 

 .'{(1 of June ; and never but once did he find more than two eggs in a nest. The nest 

 is nothing more than a few pieces of dry hay scratched together on the ground, gen- 

 erally near the water, never on the real snow-fells. Although it breeds in colonies, 

 he never found two nests close together. In the young bird just ready to fly, the 

 lihnnage greatly resembhis that of the common Skua, and the tail is perfectly even. 



Ivichardson found this species breeding in considerable numbers in the Harren 

 (i rounds, at a distance from the Arctic coast. It feeds on the shelly mollusca so 

 lilcutiful in the small lakes of the Fur Countries, and harasses the Gulls just as 

 (itlicrs of this genus do. 



ft is common in the Bay of Fundy and on the coast of Jlaine in the fall, and again 

 in the spring, and is occasionally seen off Cape Ann and C!ape Cod during the win- 

 tiT; and occasionally in very severe weather a few of these birds are driven upon the 

 coast. A single specimen is recorded by Mr. Giraud as having been taken on Long 

 Isliiud, shot in the vicinity of Islip. 



During the winter — according to Audubon — this species ranges along our south- 

 ern (!oast as far as the Gulf of Mexico, usually singly or in jjairs. In April he observed 

 it congregating in flocks of from ten to fifteen, as if for the purpose of returning north 

 to lirced. 



According to Selby, it breeds on several of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and 

 is gregarious during that period ; the situations selected for its nests being unfre- 

 quented heaths at some distance from the shores. The nest is composed of dry grass 

 and mosses, and its eggs are said to be of a dark oil-green, with irregular blotches of 

 liver-brown. It is very courageous at this season, and attacks every intruder within 

 the limits of its territory by pouncing and striking at the head with bill and wings. 



