Jaegers 



they will eventually get the better of their antagonist, though it 

 be a sea eagle. 



The Pomarine Jaeger — a contraction of pomatorhine, mean- 

 ing flap-nosed — (Stercorarius pomarinus) may be distinguished 

 from the parasitic jaeger by its larger size, twenty-two inches; 

 by the rounded ends of its central tail feathers, which project about 

 three inches beyond the others; and finally by its darker, almost 

 black, upper parts, although the plumage during the dark and 

 the light phases of these birds is so nearly the same that when 

 seen on the wing it is impossible to tell one species from another. 

 Professor Newton, of Cambridge University, has noted that the 

 long, central tail feathers of the pomarine jaeger have their shafts 

 twisted toward the tip, so that in flight the lower surfaces of their 

 webs are pressed together vertically, giving the bird the appear- 

 ance of having a disk attached to its tail. This species is also 

 called the pomarine hawk-gull. 



It is not known whether the Long-tailed Jaeger, or Buffon's 

 Skua, as they call it in England (Stercorarius longicaudus), 

 undergoes the remarkable changes of plumage that its relatives in- 

 dulge in or not, for its range is more northerly than that of any of 

 the jaegers, and when it migrates south of the Arctic Circle, to our 

 coasts, it is wearing feathers most confusingly like those of the 

 parasitic jaeger in its light phase. Indeed, the young of these 

 two species cannot be distinguished except by measuring their 

 bills, when it is found that the long-tailed jaeger has the shorter 

 bill. 



The distinguishing mark of the adults of this species is the 

 length of the central tail feathers, narrow and pointed, that pro- 

 ject about seven inches beyond the others; but immature speci- 

 mens lack even this mark. The description of the habits of the 

 parasitic jaeger applies equally well to all of the three freebooters 

 mentioned. 



34 



