70 



TWO ATLANTIC COAST ISLANDS 



witli waddliug step, walking to the uest and settling them- 

 selves on their eggs or newly hatched young with a low, 

 brooding, churriug note reserved for this occasion, and evi- 

 dently indicative of extreme contentment. This answered 

 the question of day or night incubation ; but it would be 

 well to illustrate this fact in the bird's history, and cameras 

 bound about with grasses were placed near several nests, a 

 thread run from them to the blind, and numerous pictures 

 were thus made of tlie Skimmer at home. 



■ :y 



The Young Skimmer 

 Sand rendered in feathers " 



I passed two days in my blind, enjoying to the full the 

 isolation of the Skimmer's retreat, and the ])rivilege of see- 

 ing, unseen, a wild creature in its haunts. Within this short 

 time, some additions were made to our knowledge of the 

 Skimmer's habits. Thus I learned that the hollow where the 

 eggs are laid is not a chance depression, but is made by the 

 ))ird — tlie female, so far as was observed — wliich, s(|uatting 

 close, turns round and i-oimd, actually l)oi'ing out a shalh)w 

 cavity in the easily yielding sand. 



