black skimmer, or sheerwater. 
149 
still 
top* ^*‘®''iter volume of winw is g-iven, the sheenvater 
f nineteen inches in length, and upwards of 
y'to-ur in extent. In short, W'hoever has attentively 
Jammed this curious apparatus, and observed the 
ssor. with his ample wings, long bending neck, 
and the facility with rvhich he procures his 
mandible, occasionally dipt into and ploughing 
''"h ’ *^nnot but consider it a mere jilayful amusement, 
, compared with the dashing immersions of the 
„l the gull, or the fish hawk, who, to the superficial 
.^ever, appear so superiorly accommodated, 
the sheerwater is most frenuently seen skir 
<'h 
Icimming 
tim * “tong shore about the first of the flood, at which 
Ti r 1 1 r** 11 ll H • Til »1 OT«C1 Tunc*^ O ! . 1 1 T1 cl /I T1 4" 1 T1 
tow i 
: young fry, slirimp, &o. are most a' liiidant in 
'.phices. Tliere arc also numerous inlets among the 
p, islands between the sea beech and main land of 
pj^P® May, where I have observed the sheerwaters, 
'rff **'' io company, piissing and repassing, at high- 
hn ■ *"’ P^cticulitc estuaries of those creeks that run 
t|J !*tto the salt marshes, dipping, with extended neck. 
Open bills into the water, with as much apparent 
Pj ' swallows glean up flies from the surface. On 
tj^'h'ning' the stomachs of several of these, shot at the 
to||®j I'i'ey contained numbers of a small fish, usually 
Col*" S'ilver sides, from a broad line of a glossy silver 
„f that runs from the-gills to the tail. The mouths 
fpp..^®se inlets abound with this fry, or fish, probably 
too on the various matters washed down from the 
Ccs ** ^oice of the sheerwater is harsh and screaming, 
&5l®'’“Miug that of the tern, hut stronger. It flies with 
a ii“PP'“S iiini'li fiipping occasionally, with steady 
wings and bended neck, its lower mandible 
“S ip ®®“> ““'ll "'‘tl' open mouth, receiving its food 
along the surface. It is rarely seen 
Part' on the water, hut frequently rests in large 
liipj*®'* on the s.ind bars at low water. One of these 
rpQ * '''hich I wounded in the wing, and kept in the 
“®side me for several days, soon hceamo tame, 
®''cn familiar. It generally stood with its legs 
