The Parasitic Jaeger 



HARD upon the migrating hosts of Terns come these cruel tyrants of 

 the sea, the Jaegers. Despicable in that they have turned traitor to 

 their own kind, and in that they harass the least as well as the greatest 

 of that kind, they nevertheless provoke admiration and astonishment by 

 their gracefulness, their skillfulness, and their saucy bravado. Every 

 line in the Jaeger's make-up is cut for speed. Once its gleaming, covetous 

 eye is cast upon a victim, it is no question of escape, but only a matter 

 of detail in the terms of capitulation. 



A tern catches a herring, and while it is disposing of its catch, the 

 free-booter hurries up and dives at the tern suggestively. The Jaeger 

 makes no attempt to snatch the fish, but it dives under its victim, jostling 

 it each time, and forcing it up into the air. The tern twists this way and 

 that, screaming protestingly, but anon drops the fish, which the Jaeger 

 snatches deftly in mid-air. Not content with this ransom, which is 

 instantly bolted, the bandit demands to know whether the victim has 

 any more fish secreted about his person, and harries the hapless wight 

 until the contents of the crop are disgorged, or, if already empty, until 

 the victim clearly establishes his poverty. - 



Jaegers frequently hunt in pairs, and when so fortified are able to 

 successfully handle much larger subjects. A Glaucous-winged Gull could 

 nearly eat a Jaeger alive, if he could only get at him. But the parasites 

 are too adroit, too elusive, and too desperately persistent. The gull 

 hates to do it, but also he hates to be buffeted and hustled away from the 

 fishing-grounds: "Here, take it, you scum, and be off with you!" 



Jaegers, both of this and of the preceding species, pass along our 

 coasts in considerable numbers in late April and early May and again in 

 September. They do not, of course, move in flocks like terns, for no 

 territory could support such wholesale brigandage; but at the height of 

 the season one may see a score of birds, in steaming from San Pedro to 

 Avalon, or from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz Island. The season of 

 1914 was a late one in California. At Santa Barbara both sorts of 

 Jaegers and four kinds of terns were found on the 14th of November. 

 Doubtless many of these lesser pirates winter hereabouts, for they do 

 not go much further south. The Jaegers are not entirely dependent upon 

 forced charity, for they devour offal on shore, or glean tidbits from the 

 surface of the water, quite after the fashion of other gulls. Upon dis- 

 covering a morsel below, the Jaeger checks its flight suddenly, with a 

 display of the characteristic tail-feathers which is quite gratifying to 

 the watchful student; and it settles daintily upon the water to investigate 

 at leisure or to snatch and rise with perfect grace. In its northern home, 

 the lowlands and coastal marshes of Alaska, it is said to hunt a great 

 deal inshore, where it catches shrew-mice, lemmings, and even small 



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