BLACK SKIMMER, OR SHEERWATER. 383 



singular bird, and the wisdom by which it is so admirably 

 adapted to the purposes or mode of existence for which it was 

 intended. The sheerwater is formed for skimming, while on 

 wing, the surface of the sea for its food, which consists of small 

 fish, shrimps, young fry, &c, whose usual haunts are near the 

 shore and towards the surface. That the lower mandible, 

 when dipt into and cleaving the water, might not retard the 

 bird's way, it is thinned and sharpened like the blade of a 

 knife ; the upper mandible being, at such times, elevated 

 above water, is curtailed in its length, as being less necessary, 

 but tapering gradually to a point, that, on shutting, it may 

 offer less opposition. To prevent inconvenience from the 

 rushing of the water, the mouth is confined to the mere opening 

 of the gullet, which, indeed, prevents mastication taking place 

 there ; but the stomach, or gizzard, to which this business is 

 solely allotted, is of uncommon hardness, strength, and muscu- 

 larity, far surpassing, in these respects, any other water-bird 

 with which I am acquainted. To all these is added a vast 

 expansion of wing, to enable the bird to sail with sufficient 

 celerity while dipping in the water. The general proportion 

 of the length of our swiftest hawks and swallows to their 

 breadth is as one to two ; but, in the present case, as there 

 is not only the resistance of the air, but also that of the 

 water, to overcome, a still greater volume of wing is given, the 

 sheerwater measuring nineteen inches in length, and upwards 

 of forty-four in extent. In short, whoever has attentively 

 examined this curious apparatus, and observed the possessor, 

 with his ample wings, long bending neck, and lower mandible, 

 occasionally dipped into and ploughing the surface, and the 

 facility with which he procures his food, cannot but consider 

 it a mere playful amusement when compared with the dashing 

 immersions of the tern, the gull, or the fish-hawk, who, to 

 the superficial observer, appear so superiorly accommodated. 



The sheerwater is most frequently seen skimming close 

 along shore about the first of the flood, at which time the 

 young fry, shrimp, &c, are most abundant in such places, 



