68 



TWO ATLANTIC COAST ISLANDS 



The nests are hollows in the sand, often only a few feet 

 apart and with ahsolntely no lininii', the Skinnner's hill 

 being evidently not adapted to gathering nesting material oi- 

 fonstrncting a nest. The four creamy white eggs are con- 

 spieuonsly marked with hlaok, and are by no means difficult 

 to see; but the downy young so closely liarmonize with their 

 surroundings in color, that they are far less easy to dis<'over 



Skimmers on Their Nests 

 Note their conspieuousness, even at a distance 



than the young of any lieach-nesting bird with which i am 

 familiar. Their partial invisibility, it should l)e observed, 

 is not due to their resemblance in form to their surround- 

 ings, or to the necessity of distinguishing them from peb- 

 bles or shells, as is often the case with young Terns. It is 

 purely a matter of coh)r and disposition of color which 

 makes tliem fade into the bare sand about them. Ijike most 

 young l)irds, they instinctively know tluit sni'ety lies only in 

 unquestioning obedience to tlie pai'ental eonuiiand, which 

 warns them of threatening danger, and bids them squat 

 close to the sand with neck stretched out and eyes half 

 closed. I could scarcely believe, for a moment, that the first 

 one seen in this attitude was a living bird, but behold ! when 



