SKIMMERS. 



441 



they fly, near the shores at the flood tide, seeking for small fish 

 and molluscous animals. These they obtain by skimming the 

 surface of the prolific sea with their lower mandible, while the 

 upper one is kept out of the water. Their flight is swift and 

 undulating. When on the ground, they walk very awkwardly, and 

 though they possess webbed feet, they rarely swim or even float 

 on the surface of the water. During the day, they collect in flocks 



WA'^'ji'|^^ 



Fig 215 -The Black Skimmlr Rhyttchops nigra) 



on the isolated shoals left bare by the recess of the tide. When 

 the breeding season comes, they visit the low sand-bars and dry 

 flats of the coast, for the purpose of scratching out a slight hollow 

 in the sands, wherein the female usually deposits three eggs. The 

 female only sits upon the nest during the night or in wet and 

 stormy weather. The young are scarcely distinguishable from 

 the sand, on account of the similarity of their colour ; and before 

 they leave the nest, may often be seen basking in the sun, and 

 spreading out their wings upon the warm beach. 



The type of this sub-family — 



The Black Skimmer {RhyjicJwps nigra), is an inhabitant of the coasts 

 of America, from the Straits of Magellan to the United States It is about 

 nineteen inches long, black above and white beneath, with a white band on 

 each wing ; the bill and legs are red. Supported by its long and pointed 



