BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 25 



GENUS RYNCHOPS LINN. 

 Rynchops nigra LINN. 



Black Skimmer. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Adult. Length about 19 inches ; extent about 50 inches. The upper mandible in 

 specimen before me is nearly f of an inch shorter than the lower; both mandibles 

 have obtuse ends, the lower being very blunt and rounded ; lower mandible much 

 more flattened throughout its length than the upper ; both edges of lower mandible 

 are sharp, and the upper edge fits in a groove, extending along the entire length of 

 upper mandible. Forehead, lores, sides of head, chin, throat, front of neck and rest 

 of under plumage, tips of secondaries, sides of upper tail coverts and greater part of 

 tail white; crown, back of neck, back, wings, most of rump and central tail feathers 

 brownish-black ; bill (dried skin) basal half yellowish (carmine in freshly killed 

 specimens), rest brownish -black ; tarsi and feet reddish-brown ; the black claws are 

 rather long, sharp and curved. 



Habitat. Warmer parts of America, north on the Atlantic coast to New Jersey, 

 and casually to the Bay of Fundy. 



This species is given as a Pennsylvania bird on the authority of the 

 late C. D. Wood, of Philadelphia, from whom I obtained a single speci- 

 men which he assured me was shot by himself near Philadelphia, shortly 

 after a severe storm in September, 1880. This specimen is, I believe, 

 the only one of its species that has ever been recorded in the state. In 

 the summer of 1883 June and August when visiting 1 at Brigantine 

 Beach, New Jersey, I saw a few of these birds in flocks of seven to 

 twelve each. Fishermen and other residents of the place informed me 

 they bred every year in that locality. It is said that this species still 

 breeds sparingly in New Jersey, which is, I have no doubt, about the 

 northern limit of their breeding range. Black Skimmers were quite 

 plentiful on several islands along the eastern shore of Virginia, where I 

 remained for a few days in August, 1879. 



ORDER TUBINARES. TTJBE-NOSED SWIMMERS. 



FAMILY PROCELLARIHXffi. PETRELS, ETC. 



THE PETRELS, ETC. 



The birds of this family are strictly oceanic. The few individuals that have been 

 observed in Pennsylvania have all been found during or after storms that have 

 driven them inland. " The plumage is compact and oily to resist water ; the sexes 

 appear to be always alike, and no seasonal changes are determined ; but some vari- 

 ation with age, or as a matter of individ.ua! peculiarity, certainly occurs in many 

 cases. The food is entirely of an animal nature, and fatty substances, in particular, 

 are eagerly devoured. When irritated many species eject an oily fluid from the 

 mouth or nostrils, and some are so fat as to be occasionally used for lamps, a wick 

 being run through the body. The eggs are few, or only one, laid in a rude nest or 



