LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS 



JAEGERS, GULLS, TERNS 

 (Order Longipennes) 



Birds of this order may be recognized among tiie webbed- 

 footed birds by their long, pointed wings that reach beyond the 

 base of the tail, and in many instances beyond the end of it. 

 They do not hold themselves erect when ashore, as the grebes, 

 loons, and auks do, but are able to keep a horizontal position be- 

 cause their legs are placed nearly, if not perfectly, under the centre 

 of equilibrium. Bills of variable forms, sharply pointed and fre- 

 quently hooked like a hawk's. Four toes, three of them in 

 front, flat and webbed; a very small rudimentary great toe 

 (hallux) elevated above the foot at the back. 



Jaegers and Skuas 



(Family Stercorariidm) 



End of upper half of bill is more or less swollen and rounded 

 over the tip of lower mandible. Upper parts of plumage, and 

 sometimes all, sooty, brownish black, frequently with irregular 

 bars. Middle feathers of square tail are longest. The name 

 jaeger, meaning hunter, might be freely translated into pirate; for 

 these creatures of spirited, vigorous flight delight in pursuing 

 smaller gulls and terns to rob them of their fish, like the marine 

 birds of prey that they are. Jaegers and skuas are birds of the 

 seacoast or large bodies of inland water, and wander extensively 

 except at the nesting season in the far North. 



Parasitic Jaeger. 



Pomarine Jaeger. 



Long-tailed Jaeger. 



29 



