Tail of moderate length, rounded, but with the two middle broad rounded feathers extending an inch beyond the next; bill dull green, toward the end dusky; tibia, toes, webs, and lower half of tarsus black, the upper half light blue; upper part and sides of head anteriorly brownish-black; upper part of neck all round yellowish-white; the rest of the neck white, barred with brownish-black, each feather having two transverse bands of that colour; breast white; sides, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts white, barred with brownish-black, as are the upper tail-coverts; back and wings brownish-black; primary quills of the same colour, white on the inner webs toward the base, as are the secondaries and tail-feathers; lower surface of wings mottled and barred with white and dusky.
Female, 201/4, 48.
From Massachusetts northward. Seen in Labrador. Breeds in high northern latitudes.
Lestris pomarina, Bonap. Syn. p. 364.
Lestris pomarina, Pomarine Jager, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 429.
Pomarine Jager, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 315.
Pomarine Jager, Lestris pomarinus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 396; v. v. p. 643.
455. 2. Lestris Richardsonii, Swains. Richardson's Jager.
Plate CCLXXII. Male and Young.
Male with the bill greyish-black, tinged with blue above; feet black; tail-feathers of moderate length, except the middle two, which extend about three inches beyond the rest, and taper to a point; plumage sooty-brown; the upper part of the head, primary quills, and tail darker; cheeks and sides of neck dull yellow; fore part of neck and breast white. Female similar, but without white on the neck and breast, those parts being merely of a lighter brown. Young, when fledged, with the bill light blue, dusky at the end; tarsi and basal portion of the toes and webs light blue, the rest black; general colour of the plumage sooty-brown, lighter on the neck and lower parts, feathers of the back and wings all marginally tipped with whitish; breast, sides, lower wing-coverts, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts, undulatingly barred with pale greyish-yellow.
Male, 181/2, 40. Young, in September, 151/2; wing, 111/2.
Coast of Massachusetts and Maine, during winter. Breeds in the northern barren grounds, away from the coast.