, 
200 KEY TO THE WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 
Famity RHYNCHOPID©. SKIMMERS. 
Genus RHYNCHOPS Linn. 
RHYNCHOPS NIGRA Zinn. 
Black Skimmer. 
Adult in summer: Bill thin, knife-like, lower mandible the longer, basal half vermillion red, 
blackish at tip ; forehead, lores, and cheeks, and entire under part to crissum, and tips of second- 
aries white; under lining of wing anda axillars white; rest of plumage black; tail white, the 
shafts of the feathers brownish above. 
Adult in winter: Similar but browner, and showing a white nuchal collar. 
Length, 18 to 20; Wing, 15; Tail, 5.50; Tarsus, 1.25; Bill (culmen), 2.70 : Gonys, 4.25. 
A common resident in Florida, it breeds on the Atlantic coast from Florida 
to Virginia. The eggs, usually four, are brownish white blotched with 
chocolate brown; they are deposited on the sand without any nest. 
Range: ‘* Warmer parts of America north on the Atlantic coast to New 
Jersey and casually to the Bay of Fundy.” (A.0.U.) 
