48 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



26. Steecoearius longicaudus Vicill. Long-tailed Jaeger (Esk. Yung-'&k). 



This graceful and handsome bird is the most common of the Jaegers on the Alaskan coast and 

 vicinity, and especially about Saint Michaels. They arrive in this vicinity about May 12 or 

 15, but are not numerous until ten days or more later. They are first found quartering the marshes 

 in small parties of from two to six or eight. They have a shrill ph6u-ph6ilpheii ph6o, uttered while 

 they are flying, and when the birds are quarreling or pursuing one another the ordinary note is 

 often followed by a harsh qfia. At other times they have a rattling kr-r-r.-r, kr-r-r-r, krr-r-r, kri, 

 kri-kri-kri, the latter syllables shrill and querulous and sometimes followed by the long-drawn 

 pheH-pheu-pheu in the same tone. They appear to be much more playful than the other Jaegers, 

 and i)arties of six or eight may be seen pursuing one another back and forth over the marsh. The 

 long, slender tail-feathers and extreme grace on the wing of these birds render them very much 

 like the Swallow-tailed Kite. 



The mating occurs with a great amount of noisy demonstration on the part of several rivals, 

 but once paired the birds keep by themselves and early in June deposit their eggs in a depression 

 on the mossy top of some knoll upon rising ground. In one instance, on June 16, while I was 

 securing the eggs of a Macrorhamphiis, a pair of these Jaegers kept circling about, uttering harsh 

 screams and darting down within a few feet. As I approached the sjtot where the snipe's eggs lay 

 I had noticed these birds on a. knoll just beyond, but had paid no attention, but as the birds kept 

 leaving me to hover over the knoll and then return to the attack, I examined the spot, and there, 

 in a cup-shaped depression in the moss, lay two dark greenish eggs marked with an abundance of 

 spots. During the breeding season these birds and the preceding species have a cunning habit of 

 tolling one away from their nest by dragging themselves along the ground and feigning the 

 greatest suffering. They roll about among the tussocks, beat their wings, stagger fi'om side to 

 side, and seiem to be unable to fly, but they manage to increase the distance from their starting 

 point at a very respectable rate, and ere long suddenly launch forth on the wing. 



After a successful hunt the Jaegers of this and the last species alight upon some prominent 

 knoll and sun themselves, their white breasts showing for a long distance. They are very curious 

 at times, and I have called them within gunshot on several occasions by tossing some conspicuous 

 object into the air as the birds were passing. On one occasion I saw a Jaeger swoop down at a 

 duck paddling quietly on the surface of a pond, and the latter went flapping away in mortal terror 

 while the Jaeger passed on, probably highly pleased at giving the duck such a fright. 



Their taste is omnivorous and they harry the marshes for mice and lemmings, and feast upon 

 the dead fish and other animal matter cast up by the sea, or search the hillsides for berries. The 

 arrival of a vessel in their neighborhood calls them about to secure the offal thrown overboard. 

 The Eskimo say that they eat just what men like, hence the name giv^en them, derived from the 

 word ytlk or man. 



Up to the present date they are not known from the Aleutian chain. Elliott saw but two on 

 the Fur Seal Islands, and this was the last of July, and the birds were evidently stragglers. They 

 are abundant along the low coast to Bering Straits, but, except about Kotzebue Sound, they are 

 not common to the north of that point. It is also found on the east coast of Siberia, and I am led 

 to believe, from accounts brought me by natives, that it breeds also on the Upper Yukon. 



All the Jaegers are very destructive to the eggs of other birds, and in spring nests of various 

 water-fowl are often destroyed by them. 



Like the other Jaegers, this Species moves south during September. The long-tailed species 

 is less frequently found at sea than the last, and is rarely found about the ice-pack north of Beriug 

 Straits. 



The swiftness and dexterity with which they pursue gulls and force them to disgorge is a 

 beautiful sight to witness, and while either of the small terns or gulls can drive the Jaegers from 

 the vicinity of their nests yet the latter rob them of their prey at pleasure. While I was camping 

 at the Yukon mouth a pair of these birds made their haunt in the viciuity of my tent and fed 

 upon the offal thrown upon the ice a few yards from the door. They soon became very familiar 

 and were always on hand hovering close overhead when we came in from a hunt. They would 

 stand about within a few yards and watch us with wistful eyes ready to pounce upon any morsel 



