1^2 C U T - W A T £■ R. 



LII. SKIMMER. Gen. Birds, LXXXVI, 



445,, .Ct7T=WATE:R,. ;Cut-water, Catefiy, i. 90.— Le Bee en Cifeaux, De Buffon, viii. 454. tab. 36. 



-P/. Enl. 3S7- 

 Rynchops nigra, Lin. Syjl. 229. — Latham, iii. — Lev. Mus. — Bl. Mus> 



«K. With the bill greatly compreflfed, the edges fliarp -, lower 

 mandible four inches and a half long; upper only three ; bafe 

 red ; the reft black : forehead, chin, front- of neck, breaft, and 

 bellys white: head, and whole upper part of the body, black : wings 

 of the fame color: lower part of the inner webs of the primaries 

 white : tail fhort, and a little forked j middle feathers dufky ; the 

 others white on their fides : legs weak and red. Length one foot 

 eight inches. Extent three feet feven. 

 Place. Inhabits America, from New Tork to Guiana *. Skims nimbly 



along the water, with its under mandible juft beneath the fur- 

 face, feeding on the infects and fmall fifh as it proceeds. Fre- 

 quents alfo oyfter-banks ; its bill being partly, like that of the Oyf- 

 ter-catcher, adapted for preying on thofe ftiell-fifli. In Mr. Ray's 

 , Bynoffis t is a fketch, fent from Madras, of one of this fpecies. 



* Barren France Equtn. 135. f I94' N° 5. tab. i. No 5. 



LIII. 



