THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 65 



Family RYNCHOPIDJE. 



THE SKIMMERS. 



These curious birds, allied to the Terns in general structure, are 

 peculiar in their compressed bill, the two mandibles almost like vertical 

 knife blades and the lower much longer than the upper. When feeding, 

 the bird skims the surface with its mouth open and the lower mandible 

 in the water, scooping up such small animals as come in its way. We 

 have but one species in America. 



80 Rynchops nigra Linnaeus. 

 Black Skimmer. 



Adults. Length, 17-20. Wing, 14.75-15.75. Above, black ; most of the 

 tail feathers and tips of secondaries, white, as well as the forehead, sides of 

 the head and entire under parts ; bill, orange for basal half, tip black. 



Young in first autumn more dusky, with white edgings to feathers. 



jS/est a mere hollow in the sand ; eggs, three to four, white or pale buff, with 

 heavy chocolate and lilac markings, 1.75 x 1.30. 



A rare straggler from. the South. Formerly a common summer 

 resident on the southern New Jersey coast. 



Wilson says: "Its favorite haunts 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. It lays early in June. Half a bushel and more 

 of eggs has sometimes been collected from one sand bar within the 

 compass of half an acre." Krider (1879) x states that they breed on 

 all the beaches of Cape May county, and Scott 2 (1877) reports them 

 rather rare on Long Beach, which he regards as their northern limit. 

 A set of eggs was taken there July 29th, 1882, which is now in Mrs. 

 E. Drown's collection. On Brigantine Beach and at Little Egg Harbor 

 Scott states they breed in numbers. Dr. W. L. Abbott collected a num- 

 ber of specimens September 13th-14th, 1880, at Five Mile Beach, but 

 Mr. Laurent 3 saw none there in 1892. On Seven Mile Beach they bred 



1 Field Notes, p. 82. 



2 Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1879, p. 227. 



3 O. and O., 1892, p. 43. 



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