72 



TWO ATLANTIC COAST ISLANDS 



Gull-billed Tern on Xest 



hard to say; but there can be no doubt that once it has 

 released its contents, it must be disposed of as quickly as 

 possible. 



The chicks seem to appear on successive days, and to 

 leave the nest when a day or two old. They are fed on small 

 fish and doubtless other forms of aquatic life, which, at first, 

 may be partially digested by the parent bird. Whether 

 or not each parent finds its own chicks when the beach 

 ber/omes alive with hungry youngsters, cannot be confirmed 

 definitely, though there is evidence to show not only that the 

 old birds recognize their offspring, but, that the latter know 

 their parents. 



So singular in form is the bill of the adult Skimmer, that 

 Buff on described it as an "awkward and defective instru- 

 ment"; a somewhat surprising conclusion to proceed from 

 so learned a naturalist, and one which Wilson pronounced 

 an "impiety. " With the lower mandible averaging half an 

 inch longer than the upper, and with both so thin and flexible 



