82 



had discovered a Laughing Gull's nest. On the other side of 

 the blind, and in good photographic distance, was a Skimmer's 

 nest with four eggs, as well as two nests of the Common Tern — 

 all very close together. I went into the bhnd at sunrise and 

 remained there till late afternoon, having a splendid opportunity 

 to observe the birds at close range. They all very quickly 

 became accustomed to the blind, in, spite of the fact that it 

 swayed in the strong wind that was blowing at the time. While 

 in the blind I had the good fortune to obtain photographs of a 

 Laughing Gull hovering against the wind, almost directly over- 

 head. Several times, too, the Gull whose nest was nearest 

 favored me by coming out in the open and standing perfectly 

 still, not more than twenty feet away, where I had a fine chance 

 to photograph her. 



But it was in the Black Skimmer that I was most interested. 

 Its nest was not more than fifteen feet from the blind, and I 

 was agreeably surprised, on looking into the hood of my Graflex, 

 to suddenly see a Skimmer, which seemed to cover the whole 

 ground glass, settle down on its eggs. The bird did not mind 

 the blind in the slightest, or the click of the shutter, and I 

 obtained several photographs of her in various poses, particu- 

 larly one in which she was yawning. This attitude is very 

 characteristic. The Skimmers are exceedingly restless: the one 

 which I observed would alight some distance from her nest, 

 waddle up in a most ludicrous manner, settle on the eggs for a 

 minute, open her beak wide, then stand up, turn about, preen 

 herself, and fly away. This was repeated at short intervals 

 during the day. It seems impossible for these birds to remain 

 still for any appreciable length of time. Continuous incubation, 

 however, is unnecessary, as on a clear day the heat of the sun, 

 reflected by the sand, is sufficient to give the eggs plenty of 

 warmth, without very much care from the mother. It would 

 seem that the birds visited their eggs more to shade them than 

 to incubate them. Of the birds whose nests I watched closely, 

 but one of the pair incubated, although at times, when one bird 

 was on the eggs, its mate would come very close. In such 

 instances the bird on the nest would sometimes leave, and both 

 would fly off together, taking a little spin out over the water, 

 after which one of them would return to the eggs. 



