LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN" GULLS AND TERNS. 313 



gulls on the high ridges of broken oyster shells back of the beaches, 

 which were more or less covered with scattered clumps of beach grass 

 and small mangrove bushes. The gulls' nests were usually concealed 

 among the vegetation, but the skimmers selected the more open spaces. 

 The skimmers' nests were merely hollows scooped out in the loose 

 shells, where the eggs were almost invisible. Nearly all the nests 

 contained full sets of four or five eggs, but no young were seen; I 

 saw only one young skimmer on the whole trip — a newly hatched 

 chick, picked up on Hog Island, on June 22. The impression seems 

 to have prevailed among the earlier writers that the black skimmers 

 do not sit on their eggs in the daytime ; it is true that they may, under 

 favorable circumstances, leave their eggs uncovered for considerable 

 periods, but they certainly protect their eggs from the sun's rays 

 on hot days and keep them warm in cold or wet weather. I believe 

 that they incubate most of the time. On Breton Island they cer- 

 tainly returned quickly to their eggs and sat upon them almost con- 

 stantly within a few feet of my blind. The male usually stands 

 besides his mate while she is incubating. 



Life in these closely populated colonies is never dull ; birds are con- 

 stantly coming and going, skimming close over the heads of their 

 sitting companions, causing frequent snappings of beaks or, if they 

 come too near, grunts of protest or even little squabbles. When ap- 

 proaching her nest the bird alights 3 or 4 feet away, looks around 

 carefully, walks slowly to her nest with her head held high, and 

 gradually settles down on the eggs, working them under her plumage 

 with the aid of wings and feet. She is restless and uneasy, craning 

 her neck and looking about at every new comer. She may leave and 

 return to the nest several times before settling down to quiet incuba- 

 tion. On this and other islands in the reservations the black skim- 

 mers seemed to be living in perfect harmony with their neighbors, 

 the laughing gulls, and were apparently never robbed by them. 



The following extract from some notes, sent to me by Mr. Stanley 

 C. Arthur, is worth quoting, as illustrating the nervous restlessness 

 of this species: 



One pair of skimmers immediately in front of my blind afforded me a great 

 deal of amusement during the entire afternoon. The female was very much 

 scared, it seenred to me, and watched the blind into which I had disappeared, 

 although the rest of the colony paid no attention to the khaki-colored tent that 

 had been erected on their home grounds. This particular skimmer can best be 

 described as being " skerry," and her lord and master was very much exercised 

 over her behavior. She would wing lier way over the nesting grounds, then 

 swoop down over her nest of eggs, and when just about to alight would give 

 her long black wings a flap and soon be soaring again into the air. Her mate 

 would watch her approach and departure with sundry twistings of the head, 

 and at times I feared he would twist his neck off, as he endeavored to follow 

 her flight as she would rapidly circle over the eggs. He would run over to the 



