208 BLACK SKIMMER. 
were, and earnestly urging you and your cruel sailors to retire and 
leave them in the peaceful charge of their young, or to settle on their 
lovely rounded eggs, should it rain or feel chilly. 
The Skimmer forms no other nest than a slight hollow in the © 
sand. The eggs, I believe, are always three, and measure an inch and 
three quarters in length, an inch and three-eighths in breadth. As if 
to be assimilated to the colours of the birds themselves, they have a 
pure white ground, largely patched or blotched with black or very dark 
umber, with here and there a large spot of a light purplish tint. They 
are as good to eat as those of most Gulls, but inferior to the eggs of 
Plovers and other birds of that tribe. The young are clumsy, much 
of the same colour as the sand on which they lie, and are not able to fly 
until about six weeks, when you now perceive their resemblance to their 
parents. They are fed at first by the regurgitation of the finely macerated 
contents of the gullets of the old birds, and ultimately pick up the shrimps, 
prawns, small crabs, and fishes dropped before them. As soon as they are 
able to walk about, they cluster together in the manner of the young 
of the Common Gannet, and it is really marvellous how the parents 
can distinguish them individually on such occasions. This bird walks 
in the manner of the Terns, with short steps, and the tail slightly 
elevated. When gorged and fatigued, both old and young birds are 
wont to lie flat on the sand, and extend their bills before them; and 
when thus reposing in fancied security, may sometimes be slaughtered 
in great numbers by the single discharge of a gun. When shot at while 
on wing, and brought to the water, they merely float, and are easily 
secured. If the sportsman is desirous of obtaining more, he may easily 
do so, as others pass in full clamour close over the wounded bird. 
Ruyncnoprs nicra, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol i. p. 228.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 802. 
—Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 352. 
Brack Skimmer, or SHEAR-waTER, Ruyncuors nicra, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. 
vii. p. 85, pl. 60, fig. 4.— Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 264. 
Adult Male. Plate CCCXXIII. 
_ Bill longer than the head, nearly straight, tetragonal at the base, 
suddenly extremely compressed, and continuing so to the end. Upper 
mandible much shorter than the lower, its dorsal outline very slightly 
convex, its ridge sharp, the sides erect, more or less convex, the edges 
