THE OOLOGIST 



13 



to be present. Sometimes a pair of birds 

 arriving late in the season will make selec- 

 tion of an old nest of some other species for 

 a foundation to their own ; there are cer- 

 tain species, too, that delight to turn out 

 others and usurp their nests for their own 

 purposes. And frequently the demeanor j 

 of tlie birds who have no interest whatever 

 in the nest, is such as to convince even a 

 watchful observer of their ownership ; while 

 ou the other hand, the real proprietors keep 

 their distance : this may be due to the nat- 

 ural dispositions of the two species, for one 

 is always active, prominent, demonstra- 

 tive ; while the other is quiet, shy and re- 

 tired. These two widely differing qualities 

 may be brouglit together in such a way as 

 to completely deceive a collector not used 

 to noticing the trivial actions of his favor- 

 ites. The identity of eggs, therefore, de- 

 pends not merely upon bird knowledge, but 

 largely ou common sense and a faculty of 

 bringing every minute particular to bear 

 upon the point in question. 



Not only do the eggs and nests of birds 

 and the bodily characteristics of the last 

 occasionally present phenomenal appear- 

 ances, ])ut there is oftentimes a line of con- 

 nection or coincidence of their actions with 

 all the former, which almost leads us to in- 

 fer an entire revolution in the bird's nature. 

 Some years ago, a few Robins were known 

 to winter in the north, and this was thought 

 very unusual ; now, thousands, encouraged 

 by food and warmth, stay all winter, and 

 the change of habit thus inaugurated will 

 probably result sooner or later in its adop- 

 tion by all ; this, in turn, will require a 

 more satisfactory explanation of the migra- 

 tory instinct than is now offered Ity some 

 theorists ; moreover, it will possibly be 

 proven that instinct is not the sole agent of 

 the action. 



In conclusion, it is hardly necessary to 

 state that ornithological phenomena require 

 deep attention to particulars, to render them 

 acceptable to an intelligent scientific pub- 

 lic ; wliile theorizing on imperfect knowl- 

 edge of the important particulars is alto- 

 gether unprofitable. 



Rhynchops nigra in the Bay of 

 Fundy. 



BY GEO. A. BOARDMAN. 



T SHOULD like to write your interesting 

 journal some account of the flight of a 

 large flock of very interesting southern birds 

 that made us a visit a few weeks since. 

 They were old acquaintances of mine when 

 living in the south, but I never expected 

 to see them about the cold waters of the 

 Bay of Fundy. Like most birds they have 

 several names, and I have heard them called 

 Black Skimmers, Kazor-bill Shearwaters 

 and ('ut-waters. Tlie scientific people call 

 them lihynchops nigra (Liim. ) , and a queer 

 looking bird they are, with a body but little 

 larger than a Pigeon, they have a wing 

 nearly as long as a Goose ; the mandibles 

 are most singular, lower mandible being 

 longest, Si inches, upper about 3 ; color 

 bright red and black, and as thin as a case 

 knife. The shape of the head and skull is 

 very odd, and as I have said the wings are 

 very strong and excessively long, measur- 

 ing about 16 inches from flexure, and 

 spreading about four feet. But few of (he 

 Terns, even its nearest relative, have such 

 extent of wings. 



When living upon the banks of the St. 

 John River in Florida, some years ago, I 

 often noticed about dusk of the evening large 

 flocks of curious looking birds flying up the 

 river skimming very near the water. The 

 bird and its flight were new to me and I 

 was anxious to be better acquainted and 

 get specimens, which I vei*y soon obtained. 

 I had never seen the bird before, and such 

 a queer beak, such length of wings and 

 hoarse note interested me very much. I 

 often used to go out in a boat to see the 

 flocks, sometimes by hundreds flying up the 

 river, skimming close to the water, the low- 

 er mandible a])pearing in the water, catch- 

 ing the small li-y on the surHice. The shad 

 fishermen say they feed all night and about 

 daylight return to the mouth of the river to 

 roost ou the sand banks through the day. 

 1 Although a night bird, they can see very 



