172 SKIMMERS 



Sooty, Common, and other fork-tailed Terns. Its note is a low, reedy 

 cock, at times increased to a rolling guttural k-r-r-r-r. 



References to papers on the habits of this species will be found 

 under the Sooty Tern. 



6. FAMILY RYNCHOPID^E. SKIMMERS. (Fig. 25.) 



The five closely allied species constituting this small but distinct 

 group are found in the warmer parts of the earth. Three species in- 

 habit the Western Hemisphere, of which one reaches North America. 

 Skimmers nest in colonies on beaches. The black adults are conspicu- 

 ous when incubating and correspondingly wary; but the sand-colored 

 down of the young is obviously intended to picture their background, 

 and, like young Terns and Gulls, they squat close and are then exceed- 

 ingly difficult to discover. Skimmers are unique both in the form of the 

 bill and in their manner of feeding. Opening the mouth, the bladelike 

 lower mandible is dropped just beneath the surface of the water; then, 

 flying rapidly, they may be said to literally "plow the main" in search 

 of their food of small aquatic animals. 



80. Rynchops nigra Linn. BLACK SKIMMER. (Fig. 25.) Ads. Fore- 

 head, sides of the head, underparts and tips of the secondaries white; upper- 

 parts and wings black; outer tail-feathers white, inner ones more or less 

 brownish; base of bill red, end black. L., IS'OO; W., 14'50; T., 4'75; B., 2'60. 



Range. Tropical and temperate Am. Breeds from Va. (formerly N. J.) 

 to the Gulf coast and Tex.; wanders casually n. to Bay of Fundy; winters 

 from the Gulf coast to Colima, Mex. and Costa Rica; casual in the W. Indies. 



Washington, A. V., Sept. 1858. Long Island, occasional in summer. 



Nest, a slight hollow in the sand or shells of a beach. Eggs, 3-5, white or 

 buffy white, heavily blotched with chocolate, 1'80 x 1'35. Date, Nueces 

 Co., Tex., May 15; Cobb's Is., Va., June 6. 



The Black Skimmer breeds in large colonies from Virginia south- 

 ward. They make their nest-hollow by squatting on the sand and turn- 

 ing slowly around, boring with their bodies. They are exceedingly 

 noisy when one invades their haunts, and, calling loudly, charge one 

 repeatedly. They are evidently more or less nocturnal, and while 

 feeding at this time utter their sharp yap t yap, like a pack of hounds 

 on the trail. 



1905. JOB, H. K., Wild Wings, 120. 1908. CHAPMAN, F. M., Camps 

 and Cruises, 64-75 (nesting in Va.). 



III. ORDER TUBINARES. TUBE -NOSED SWIMMERS 



7. FAMILY DIOMEDEID.E. ALBATROSSES. (Fig. 26a.) 



The Albatrosses, numbering seventeen species, are confined chiefly 

 to the seas of the Southern Hemisphere. Four species visit our Pacific 

 coast after nesting farther south, but on the Atlantic coast of North 



