LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 21 



STERCORARIUS LONGICAUDUS Vieillot. 

 LONG-TAILED JAEGER. 



HABITS. 



On the rolling Arctic plains or tundra back of Nome, Alaska, we 

 found these handsome birds very common and a conspicuous feature 

 in the landscape, where they had probably reared their young and 

 were spending the summer in congenial surroundings. Some of them 

 were almost constantly in sight, and it was a pleasure to watch their 

 graceful evolutions on the wing, as they coursed about the grassy 

 borders of the little tundra ponds in search of food or perched on 

 the little mossy hummocks to rest or to watch for passing birds that 

 they might rob, or for some small mammal on which they might 

 pounce. Certain of these little mounds seemed to be favorite lookout 

 points for certain individuals or pairs, as there were signs of con- 

 tinued occupancy, and we frequently saw the same mound occupied 

 at various times; perhaps each pair of birds has a sort of feudal 

 domain of its own, from which intruders are driven away. 



Spring. — The long-tailed jaeger retires to its Arctic summer home 

 very early in the season and arrives on its breeding grounds in ad- 

 vance of its congeners. Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) says that it arrives 

 in the vicinity of St. Michael about May 12 or 15, but is not numer- 

 ous until 10 days or more later. Mr. Lucien M. Turner (1886) 

 writes : 



On their first arrival they are somewhat gregarious, though this may be due 

 to the limited portions of ground free from snow. At this time the little pools 

 of the low ground are being rapidly thawed out ; many tracks in the heaving 

 sea ice expose the water to view. These places are then scanned for food. 

 When the ice in the lakes and larger ponds is melted, these birds usually are 

 hovering in the vicinity, or seated on some knoir watching a gull or tern dive 

 for a fish. 



Nesting. — Doctor Nelson (1887) says of the nesting habits of this 

 species near St. Michael: 



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 

 Macrorhamphus, a pair of these jaegers kept circling about, uttering harsh 

 screams and darting down within a few feet. As I appreached the spot 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 them- 

 selves along the ground and feigning the greatest suffering. They roll about 

 among the tussocks, beat their wingi?,, stagger from side to side, and seem to 



