576 



of Datura! 



urnal insects, and love to come out of their 

 retreats and enjoy the sunshine. Some of 

 them fly well ; but others have uo wings, or 

 only very short ones, under the wing-cases, 

 and are therefore unable to fly. They walk 

 slowly, and being of a timid nature, and 

 without the means of defence, when alarmed 

 they turn back their antennas under the 

 snout, fold up their legs, and fall from the 

 plants on which they live. The larvae have 

 strong and horny jaws, witli which they gnaw 

 those parts of plants which serve for their 

 food. Some of them bore into and spoil 

 fruits, grain, and seeds ; some attack the 

 leaves and stems of plants, causing them to 

 swell and become cankered ; while others 

 penetrate into the solid wood, interrupt the 

 course of the sap, and occasion the branch 

 above the seat of attack to wither and die. 

 Most of these grubs are transformed within 

 the vegetable substances upon which they 

 have lived; some, however, when fully grown, 

 go into the ground, where they are changed 

 to pupae, and afterwards to beetles. This 

 subsection corresponds with the LinnaBan 

 genera Bruchus, Attelabus, and Curculio. 

 Some of the most extraordinary species of 

 j Rhyncophorous insects compose the South 

 j African genus Antliarhinus, in one sex of 

 j which the rostrum is nearly three times as 

 long as the body, porrected, and as thin as a 

 | fine needle. In the great work of Schocnherr 

 i on these insects at least 7000 species are de- 

 i scribed or alluded to. 



RHYNCHOPS. We learn from Wilson's 

 American Ornithology, that tliis truly sin- 

 gular bird was the only species of its tribe 

 discovered at the time he wrote. Another 

 species at least, the Ji. orientals has been 

 since found in Africa. The species whose 

 history we here subjoin is the BLACK SKIM- 

 MER ; or SHEERWATEK. (Khynchops nigra.) 

 It is a bird of passage in the United States, 

 and makes its first appearance on the 

 shores of New Jersey early in May. It re- 

 sides there, as well as along the whole At- 

 lantic coast, during the summer, and retires 

 early in September. Its favourite haunts 



BLACK SKIMMBR. (.HOY 



CHOPS NIORA.) 



are low sand bars, raised above the reach 

 of the summer tides ; and also dry flat 

 sands on the beach in front of the ocean. 

 Early in June these birds form themselves 

 into small societies, fifteen or twenty pair 

 juently breeding within a few yards of 



other. The nest is a mere hollo w formed 



in the sand ; and the female lays three eggs, 

 almost perfectly oval, of a clear white, 

 marked with large round spots of brownish 



black, and intermixed with others of a paler 

 dusky hue. The female sits on them only 

 during the night, or in wet and stormy 

 weather. The young remain for several 

 weeks before they are able to fly ; are fed 

 with great assiduity by both parents ; and 

 seem to delight in lying with loosened wings, 

 flat on the sand, enjoying its invigorating 

 warmth. They breed but once in the season. 



The Sheerwater is formed for skimming, 

 while on wing, the surface of the sea for its 

 food, which consists of small fish, shrimps, 

 young fry, &c., whose usual haunts are near 

 the shore, and towards the surface. That 

 the lower mandible, when dipt into and 

 cleaving the water, might not retard the 

 bird's way, it is thinned and sharpened like 

 the blade of a knife ; the upper mandible 

 being, at such times, elevated above water, 

 is curtailed in its length, as being less ne- 

 cessary, but tapering gradually to a point, 

 that, on shutting, it may offer less opposition. 

 To prevent inconvenience from the rushing 

 of the water, the mouth is confined to the 

 mere opening of the gullet, which, indeed, 

 prevents mastication taking place there ; but 

 the stomach, or gizzard, to which this busi- 

 ness is solely allotted, is of uncommon 

 hardness, strength, and muscularity, far 

 surpassing in these respects any other water 

 bird with which I am acquainted. To all 

 these is added a vast expansion of wing, to 

 enable the bird to sail>ith sufficient celerity 

 while dipping in the water. The general 

 proportion of the length of our swiftest hawks 

 and swallows, to their breadth, is as one to 

 two ; but in the present case, as there is not 

 only the resistance of the air, but also that 

 of the water, to overcome, a still greater 

 volume of wing is given, the Sheerwater 

 measuring nineteen inches in length, and 

 upwards of forty-four in extent. In short 

 (says Wilson), whoever has attentively ex- 

 amined this curious apparatus, and observed 

 the possessor, with his ample wings, long 

 bending neck, and lower mandible, occa- 

 sionally dipt into and ploughing the surface, 

 and the facility with which he procures his 

 food, cannot but consider it a mere playful 

 amusement, when compared with the dashing 

 immersions of the tern, the gull, or the fish- 

 hawk, who, to the superficial observer, appear 

 so superiorly accommodated. 



The voice of the Sheerwater is harsh and 

 screaming, resembling that of the tern, but 

 stronger. It flies with a slowly flapping 

 flight, dipping occasionally, with steady ex- 

 panded wings and banded neck, its lower 

 mandible into the sea, and, with open mouth, 

 receiving its food as it ploughs along the 

 surface. It is rarely seen swimming on the 

 water, but frequently rests in large parties 

 on the sand bars at low water. The length 

 and breadth of this bird we before noticed 

 as nineteen inches by forty-four : the length 

 of the lower mandible is four inches and a 

 half ; of the upper, three inches and a half ; 

 both of a scarlet red, tinged with orange, 

 and ending in black ; the lower extremely 

 thin ; the upper grooved, so as to receive the 

 edge of the lower : the nostril is large and 

 pervious, placed in a hollow near the base 

 und edge of the upper mandible, where it 



