150 1UIYNCIIOPS NIGRA. 



erect, its body horizontal, and its neck rather extended. 

 It frequently reposed on its belly, and, stretching it> 

 neck, rested its long bill on the floor. It spent most of 

 its time in this way, or in dressing and arraiiL'ini: 

 it> plumage with its long scissors-like bill, which it 

 seemed to perform with great ease and drxtrity. It 

 refused every kind of food offered it, and, I am prrMiaded, 

 never feeds but when on the wing. As to the reports 

 of its frequenting oyster beds, and feeding on these fish, 

 they are contradicted by all those persons with whom 

 I have conversed, whose long residence on the coast 

 where these birds are common, has given them the best 

 opportunities of knowing. 



The sheerwater is nineteen inches in length, from 

 the point of the bill to the extremity of the tail ; the 

 tips of the wings, when shut, extend full four iin-li-s 

 farther ; breadth, three feet eight inches ; length of the 

 lower mandible, 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 and edge of the upper mandible, 

 where it projects greatly over the lower ; upper part 

 of the head, neck, back, and scapulars, deep black ; 

 wings, the same, except the secondaries, which are 

 white on the inner vanes, and also tipt with white ; 

 tail, forked, consisting of twelve feathers, the two 

 middle ones about an inch and a half shorter than the 

 exterior ones, all black, broadly edged on both sides 

 with white ; tail-coverts, white on the outer sides, black 

 in the middle ; front, passing down the neck below the 

 eye, throat, breast, and whole lower parts, pure white; 

 legs and webbod feet, bright scarlet, formed almost 

 exactly like those of the tern. Weight, twelve ounrrs 

 avoirdupois. The female weighed nine ounces, and 

 measured only sixteen inches in length, and three feet 

 three inches in extent ; the colours and markings were 

 the same as those of the male, with the exception of 



