THE BIRD BOOK 
Skua 
Pomarine Jaeger 
35. Skua. Megalestris skua. 
Range. — Coasts and islands of the North At- 
lantic, chiefly on the European side; rare on the 
Atlantic coast of North America. 
Skuas are large (22 inches in length) and very 
powerfully built birds, having the general form 
of a Gull. Their whole plumage is a dingy brown- 
ish black color, palest below. Breeds in Iceland 
and possibly on some of the islands in Hudson 
Strait. The nest is a hollow on the ground in 
Olive brown 
the marsh grass and is lined with grass. The 
two eggs which they lay have an olive greenish 
ground, spotted with dark brown. Size 2.75 x 1.90. 
36. Pomarine Jaeger. Stercorarius jpomarinus. 
Range. — Northern Hemisphere, breeding within the Arctic Circle, more 
commonly in the Old World. 
In the breeding plumage, this 
Jaeger has the crown and face 
blackish; back and sides of head, 
throat and under parts pure white, 
except the pointed stiffened feath- 
ers of the neck which are yellow. 
Back, wings and tail blackish, the 
latter with the two middle feath- 
ers lengthened about four inches 
beyond the rest of the tail, and 
broad to the tips, which are twist- 
ed so that the feathers are verti- 
cal. They breed throughout the 
Arctic regions, but not as common- 
ly in America as the following 
species. The nest is on the ground olive brown 
m the marsh grass and is made of 
grass and moss. They lay two and rarely three eggs of an olive brown or 
greenish color. These are spotted with brown and black. Size 2.20 x 1.70. 
36 
