OF VIRGINIA 19 
to one side flap slowly by these queer-looking birds, all 
the while uttering their mournful note. Another pleasing 
sight is to watch a number of them skim along the sur- 
face of the water, just inside the breakers which roll in 
from the broad Atlantic, the large lower bill dropped 
down under the water while the upper bill remains even 
with the water, thus skimming in its food of small fish 
or minnows. As we lie awake at night in our boat, club- 
house, or life-saving station bedroom, we can hear these 
birds passing to and fro from their inland water feeding 
grounds to their nesting grounds. No nest is constructed ; 
a slight hollow in the sandy beach, back above high tide, is 
wallowed out by the birds, in which is laid from three to 
four creamy white eggs, spotted and blotched with heavy 
markings of dark and light reddish-brown, and chestnut; 
and lighter markings of lavender. Size, 1.75x1.30. Fresh 
eggs June 20th to July 10th. Only one brood a season 
if undisturbed. They leave in the fall migration about 
September 10th. They do not breed on the coast main- 
land; islands off the coast north of Cape Charles being 
their favorite resort for the last fifty years, if not longer. 
