BIRDS OF NEW YORK 1 53 



toward the tip; feet carmine; iris hazel. IinmaUirc: Upper parts gravish 

 brown; under parts white; bill and feet duller colored, bill smaller, imper- 

 fectly formed; tail less forked. 



Length 16-20 inches; extent 42-50; wing 13-16. 5; tail 4-6, forked 1.5; 

 bill, upper mandible 3; under mandible 3.5-4.5; gape 4.5; depth of under 

 mandible .6; tarsus 1.45; middle toe and claw 1.3. 



The Black skimmer, Scissor bill, Cutwater, or Shearwater, is an occa- 

 sional summer visitant off the shores of Long Island, but is not known to 

 breed north of Egg Harbor, N. J. Giraud wrote, "It is not verj- common 

 with us," but DeKay said, "It is common enough with us." The following 

 recent records are all that have come to my attention: 



Rockaway, L. I. July 26, 1876, (2); Sept. 3, 1876. N. T. Lawrence, Forest and Stream, 



10: 235 

 South Oyster Bay, L. I. Aug. 2, 1884. Grinnell, Forest and Stream, Aug. 7, 1884 

 Amityville, L. I. May 6, 1893, (2). (Chichester). Dutcher 



" May 20, 1898. " BraisUn, p. 41 



Whitesboro, Oneida co., N. Y. Fall of 1893. Bagg, Auk, 11: 162 



Order XXJBINARES 



Tube-nosed Swimmers 

 Order Procellariiformes, Sharpe's Hand-List 



Nostrils tubular; bill epignathous, hooked and enlarged at the ti]T; 

 covering of bill in several horny plates, showing sutures between; hind 

 toe very small or wanting, elevated; wings usually long and pointed; ten 

 stiff primaries; 10 to 30 short secondaries, the fifth wanting; tail rather 

 short, usually of 12 or 14 feathers; palate schizognathous ; nasals holorhinal; 

 also numerous other characters of internal anatom}^ ; plumage verv compact 

 and oily; the body often so fat that it can be used as a lamp or candle; 

 sexes alike; seasonal changes in plumage, if any, not determined; color 

 inclining to uniformity, mostly sooty and white; a single Qgg laid on the 

 ground or in a burrow. 



These birds are pelagic in distribution, frequenting the shore onh' for 

 purposes of reproduction, and never found inland except when driven 

 astra}' by stonns. The species are largely cosmopolitan, often ranging 



