STERNIN^. 847 



These remarkable birds have the bill compressed at the point, 

 as fine as a pen-knife, and flexible ; the use it is put to is still a 

 problem. 



995. Rhynchops albicollis, Swainson. 



Bltth, Cat. 1697— Gray, 111. Gen., Birds, pi. 180. . 



The Indian Skimmer. 



Descr. — Crown of the head, back and scapulars, rump and the 

 two central tail-feathers sooty-brown or black, the quills some- 

 what darker, edges of the secondaries and tertiaries white ; fore- 

 head, face to the eyes, the back of the neck, and the whole lower 

 parts, with the sides of the lower back and rump and the lateral 

 tail-feathers, white: wing beneath pale glossy-cinereous. 



Bill deep orange, yellowish at the tip of both mandibles ; irides 

 brown; legs bright vermilion-red. Length 16^ inches; extent 44; 

 wing 16; tail 4f ; bill, upper mandible 2|, lower mandible to gape 

 3| ; tarsus 1^. 



The young bird has the feathers edged with creamy-white, and 

 the bill and legs dusky-yellow. 



This remarkable bird is found throughout India, frequenting 

 rivers, especially the larger ones. It associates in flocks of from 

 twenty to fifty or more, and skims up and down the river with 

 a peculiar flight, keeping close to the water, and now and then 

 dipping its bill into the stream. It is asserted that it picks up small 

 fish and Crustacea, and it is quite possible that it does so occasion- 

 ally, but I have examined several and never found any remains 

 of those animals in their stomachs. I have generally discovered 

 merely a little oily fluid, and I confess that I am ignorant of what it 

 actually lives on. Some travellers have asserted that the African 

 species feed on the ground, searching the soft mud with their beaks, 

 but I have never seen the Indian birds so engaged, and doubt their 

 doing so. At one time I was inclined to think that these birds 

 perhaps fed at night, and had such a rapid digestion, that no remains 

 of their food were to be seen during the day, but on one occasion 

 I shot several, in company with Mr. W. Blanford, on the Irra- 

 waddy, rather early one morning, and we found nothing but the 

 usual oily fluid, and that in very small quantity. 



