172 SKIMMERS 
Sooty, Common, and other fork-tailed Terns. Its note is a low, reedy 
cack, at times increased to a rolling guttural k-r-r-r-r. 
References to papers on the habits of this species will be found 
under the Sooty Tern. 
6. Famity RyncHormis. Skimmers. (Fig. 25.) 
The five closely allied species constituting this small but distinct 
group are found in the warmer parts of the earth. Three species in- 
habit the Western Hemisphere, of which one reaches North America. 
Skimmers nest in colonies on beaches. The black adults are conspicu- 
ous when incubating and correspondingly wary; but the sand-colored 
down of the young is obviously intended to picture their background, 
and, like young Terns and Gulls, they squat close and are then exceed- 
ingly difficult to discover. Skimmers are unique both in the form of the 
bill and in their manner of feeding. Opening the mouth, the bladelike 
lower mandible is dropped just beneath the surface of the water; then, 
flying rapidly, they may be said to literally “plow the main’ in search 
of their food of small aquatic animals. 
80. Rynchops nigra Linn. Buack Sximmer. (Fig. 25.) Ads.—Fore- 
head, sides of the head, underparts and tips of the secondaries white; upper- 
parts and wings black; outer tail-feathers white, inner ones more or less 
brownish; base of bill red, end black. L., 18°00; W., 14°50; T., 4°75; B., 2°60. 
Range.—Tropical and temperate Am. Breeds from Va. (formerly N. J.) 
to the Gulf coast and Tex.; wanders casually n. to Bay of Fundy; winters 
from the Gulf coast to Colima, Mex. and Costa Rica; casual in the W. Indies. 
Washington, A. V., Sept. 1858. Long Island, occasional in summer. 
Nest, a slight hollow in the sand or shells of a beach. Eggs, 3-5, white or 
buffy white, heavily blotched with chocolate, 1°80 x 1°35. Date, Nueces 
Co., Tex., May 15; Cobb’s Is., Va., June 6. 
The Black Skimmer breeds in large colonies from Virginia south- 
ward. They make their nest-hollow by squatting on the sand and turn- 
ing slowly around, boring with their bodies. They are exceedingly 
noisy when one invades their haunts, and, calling loudly, charge one 
repeatedly. They are evidently more or less nocturnal, and while. 
feeding at this time utter their sharp yap, yap, like a pack of hounds 
on the trail. 
1905. Jos, H. K., Wild Wings, 120.—1908. CHapman, F. M., Camps 
and Cruises, 64-75 (nesting in Va.). 
Ill, ORDER TUBINARES. TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS 
7. Famity DiomepEIp#. ALBATRossES. (Fig. 26a.) 
The Albatrosses, numbering seventeen species, are confined chiefly 
to the seas of the Southern Hemisphere. Four species visit our Pacific 
coast after nesting farther south, but on the Atlantic coast of North 
