BIRD FISHERMEN 199 



several species, the European living along the coast 

 countries of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa ; 

 the American living along the sea-coasts of the 

 temperate and tropical regions, "from Nova Scotia 

 and Lower California to Brazil and Patagonia." 

 Occasionally they are found even in Greenland. 

 They choose sandy beaches for their feeding- 

 grounds, and conduct their foraging in large 

 groups. It is impossible to compute the amount of 

 shell-fish they consume, but it is admitted to be 

 enormous. 



Another shell-fisher is the courlan. He is a large 

 rail-like bird, with a powerful beak which enables 

 him easily to open shells. He wades around in 

 shallow water and hunts for mollusks with his feet, 

 and when he finds one he dashes his beak between 

 the valves, and then carries his prey to the shore, 

 where he prys open the shell and eats the mollusk. 

 Possibly the best known of this family is the Flor- 

 ida courlan, often called the crying-bird, crazy- 

 widow, or lamenting-bird. It is so named because 

 of its dark plumage and its habits of a recluse ; at 

 night it cries in the most pitiful manner like some 

 one weeping for a departed friend. 



The black skimmers are a strange group of fish- 

 ers who live along the low, sandy grounds, and 

 islands of our coast countries. Their methods of 



