TERNS 



hut in no instance was the nest placed directlv on 

 the ijround. for it was noticed that even nests 

 which seemed to be so placed were in reality 

 resting on a worn-down turf of grass. 



The nest of the Sooty Tern, on the other hand, 

 was at the most no more than a shallow oval 

 depression, liollowed out of the sand by the 

 bird's claws. Sometimes this nest was fashioned 

 under bayberry bushes, and occasionally a rim 

 of leaves was gathered about the edge, but these 

 leaves were only such as the bird could reach 

 while she was covering the eggs. These birds 

 have very definite ideas about their property 

 rights, according to Mr. \\'at:-on. That is, they 

 evidently consider a plot of ground from four- 

 teen inches to two feet Sf[uare within which their 

 nest is placed as their private premises, and they 

 will leave their eggs or even their young to drive 

 away any other bird that comes within their 

 domains. This jealousy causes almost constant 

 commotion and uproar in the colony; for, if 

 a bird upon returning to its mate does not alight 

 literally within its own yard, and attempts to 

 walk to its own nest, it will be set upon by every 

 other bird through whose premises it passes. 

 Against human intruders, however, it defends its 



home somewhat less vigorouslv than does the 

 Noddy. The birds share incubation, and some- 

 times one will brood the eggs for two days in 

 succession before being relieved. Thev never 



*r M 



Photo by Herbert Mills Courtesy of Xat. .^sso. Aud. Soc. 



A NODDY NESTING UPON THE BARE GROUND 



Only a few sticks have been gathered around the rim of the nest 



rest or swim on the water and, apparently, get 

 so little sleep that they are called the " Wide- 

 awake Terns." 



SKIMMERS 



Order Loiigipctuics; family Ryudtopidcc 



HE Skimmers constitute a single family, RyiicIiopiJcc, whicli includes five 

 species. Like the Loons and Grebes, they evidently are very old forms, as 

 their fossil remains have been found in Patagonia in the strata of the Tertiary 

 Period. In several respects they strongly resemble the Terns, but they differ 

 from them and from all other birds in the curious structure of the bill, which 

 is long, and much compressed laterally, the lower mandible, which is much 

 longer than the upper, being as thin as a knife-blade. The tipper mandible 

 is peculiar in that it is movable. These differences are plainly modifications 

 which fit the bird for its method of capturing its food (shrimps, small fish, 

 and other animal forms) by skimming the surface of the water with the lower 

 mandible, the upper being kept slightly raised meanwhile. This manner of 



feeding is suggestive of that of the whales. They hunt their food in companies and are 



partially nocturnal in their habits. 



The birds generally are pure white below, and black, with some white tipping of the 



feathers on the upper parts. Their bodies are from sixteen to about twenty inches long, 



their wings slender and long, the tail short and slightly forked; the feet are small with the 



webs between the middle and the inner toes deeply notched. 



Skimmers build no nest, but lay three or four eggs in a slight hollow in the sand. The 



Black Skimmer is the only member of the family which occurs in America. 



