COBB'S ISLAND 



'1 



Apparently only the female incubates, but the much 

 larger male often comes and stands by her side while she 

 sits on the eggs, a pleasant picture in bird life suggestive of 

 domestic harmony. In .all the pictures made of the sitting- 

 bird from the front, one or two of the eggs can he seen 

 through the breast feathers, as though the bird had a larger 

 "clutch" than she could cover. The period of incubation I 

 had no means of determining, but certain it is that once the 

 chick announces his coining by a chicken-like peep, the trans- 



iSfTjS*** 



WZ 



Three Young Skimmers 

 " Squat close to the sand with neck stretched out " 



formation of a pipped egg into a bright-eyed downy Skim- 

 mer, endowed with all the instincts of its kin 1, is a matter of 

 only two and one-half or three hours. 



As soon as the nestling emerges from the egg, the shell 

 is taken by the parent, and, so far as was observe 1, •ariie:! 

 out of sight; a singular custom, common to most birds. 

 The habit is doubtless of importance to a tree-nesting bird, 

 where the egg-shell below might advertise the young bird 

 above ; but why, with a beach-nesting species an egg-shell 

 (should be considered more conspicuous than an e2g it is 



