14 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 103 



by the time I snapped the picture, one was on each corner of 

 the plate. Then I remember taking one that was just learn- 

 ing- to fly. First he squatted down flat in the characteristc 

 skimmer position, and then he bolted pell-mell when I tried 

 to make him pose properly, but perseverance finally won, al- 

 though he showed his displeasure by shrieking continuously. 

 The young skimmers are of particular interest, because with 

 the very young, both mandibles are of equal length, and I 

 think a good museum group could be made, using a series to 

 show the gradual elongation of the lower. The adults are 

 as interesting as the young, too, and they seemed as much 

 concerned over what I was doing as I was myself. A con- 

 tinual line of them flashed by within a few feet and went 

 skimming across the water, their lower mandilile cutting the 

 surface as they searched for food. The sooty black of the 

 plumage makes them very conspicuous as they pass side to, 

 but when they wheel together, as is their custom, they seem 

 to disappear, for the broad strip of white tipping the wings 

 and tail makes them almost invisible against the light of the 

 sky. In flight the skimmers remind me of waves, for they 

 have that gentle wave-like motion in their irregular, undulat- 

 ing flight a,s they all rise together and swirl away with a flash 

 of white and the rhythmic beat of their wings. One does not 

 notice the combination of color, but notices first the black, 

 and then the white as they turn. 



The skimmers did not take all my time, for the beautiful 

 Cabot, Royal and Caspian terns were doing their best to 

 make themselves noticeable. To me, the Royal terns resem- 

 ble the Tropic-birds of the Pacific, and more than once I 

 thought surely a tern must be one. Bands of young waddled 

 ahead of us and took to the water, and young laughing gulls 

 skulked ahead in the wiry salt grass. These birds objected to 

 being photographed as much as the others, and one young 

 royal tern submitted only after I chased him down the beach. 

 They were grotesque little beggars and never showed a sign 

 of fear, luit always sat up and showed defiance when cor- 

 nered. The adult birds circled around and shrieked their dis- 



