BLACK SKIMMER, OR SHEERWATER. 149 



still greater volume of wing- is given, the sheerwater 

 measuring- nineteen inches in length, and upwards of 

 forty-four in extent. In short, whoever has attentively 

 examined this curious apparatus, and observed the 

 possessor, with his ample wings, long hending neck, 

 and lower mandible, occasionally 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 sheervvater is most frequently seen skimming 

 close along shore about the first of the flood, at which 

 time the young fry, shrimp, &c. are most abundant in 

 such places. There are also numerous inlets among the 

 low islands between the sea beech and main land of 

 Cape May, where I have observed the sheerwaters, 

 eight or ten in company, passing and repassing, at high- 

 water, particular estuaries of those creeks that run 

 up into the salt marshes, dipping, with extended neck, 

 their open bills into the water, with as much apparent 

 ease as swallows glean up flies from the surface. On 

 examining the stomachs of several of these, shot at the 

 time, they contained numbers of a small fish, usually 

 called silver sides, from a broad line of a glossy silver 

 colour that runs from the gills to the tail. The mouths 

 of these inlets abound with this fry, or fish, probably 

 feeding on the various matters washed down from the 

 marshes. 



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 

 expanded wings and bended 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. One of these 

 birds which I wounded in the wing, and kept in the 

 room beside me for several days, soon became tame, 

 and even familiar. It generally stood with its legs 



