THE COMMON TEEN 
299 
When seeking food, the Skimmer looks for 
calm water, and then with most dexterous and 
well-balanced flight, it slowly wings its way 
close down to the surface, so low that the lower 
mandible is actually held in the water while the 
bird is in full flight. Any small edible object 
that happens to lie on the surface is shot into 
the mouth, through what is really a very narrow 
opening. 
This is a bird of the tropics, and is much 
more at home on the coast of British Guiana, 
among the scarlet ibises, than it is on the coast 
of the United States anywhere north of Florida. 
I have never seen it elsewhere than in South 
America, and on our shores it is a visitor of 
great rarity. 
THE SKUA AM) JAEGER FAMILY. 
Stercorariidae. 
The members of this family are habitants of 
the cold northern seas and high latitudes. They 
are strong-winged, bold and hardy, and so 
frequently rob other sea-birds of their prey that 
they are sometimes called the hawks of the 
sea. Living examples are rarely seen save by 
persons who are voyaging northward above the 
49th parallel. Of the four species inhabiting 
North America, the following is the one most 
frequently seen in the United States: 
The Parasitic Jaeger 1 is quoted geographi- 
cally in the Check-List of the American Ornithol- 
ogists’ Union as follows: “Northern part of 
northern hemisphere, southward in winter to 
South Africa and South America. Breeds in 
high northern districts, and winters from New 
York and California southward to Brazil.” A 
description of the colors of this bird would be a 
formidable affair, for both adults and young 
birds have each two color-phases. The beak 
of the adult is strongly hooked at the end, like 
that of a cormorant, but still more pronounced. 
1 Ster-co-ra'ri-us par-a-sit'i-cus. Length, about 
17 inches. 
