General Notes. 
I2 5 
Rhynchops nigra. — An early Record for the Massachusetts 
Coast. — Champlain,* while cruising along the sandy shores of Cape 
Cod on a voyage of exploration in July, 1605, makes mention of the 
Black Skimmer, as his narration, p. 87, shows. 
“We saw also a sea-bird with a black beak, the upper part slightly 
aquiline, four inches long and in the form of a lancet; namely, the 
lower part representing the handle and the upper the blade, which is 
thin, sharp on both sides, and shorter by a third than the other; which 
circumstance is a matter of astonishment to many persons, who cannot 
comprehend how it is possible for this bird to eat with such a beak. 
It is of the size of a pigeon, the wings being very long in proportion to 
the body, the tail short, as also the legs, which are red ; the feet being 
small and flat. The plumage on the upper part is gray-brown, and on 
the Under part pure white. They go always in flocks along the sea- 
shore, like the pigeons with us.” 
That this species was found on our shores early in this century is 
proved by the older natives of the Cape telling me, since the bird’s recent 
occurrence, that a them cutwater or shearwater birds used to be with us 
summer times.” Also Mr. Brewster informs me that Nantucket fishermen 
assert that Skimmers bred on Muskegat Island fifty years ago. — H. A. 
Purdie, Newton, Mass. 
Notes on the Habits of the Kittiwake Gull. — Some fishermen 
whom I lately employed to get a few Kittiwake Gulls on the winter fishing 
grounds off Swampscott, Massachusetts, gave me the following interesting 
account of the habits of this species, and the way in which my specimens 
were procured. 
A number of small schooners sail from Swampscott every winter morn- 
ing, and reach the fishing banks, which are some twelve miles off shore } 
about daybreak. The men then take to their dories, and buckets of bait 
— generally cod-livers or other refuse — are thrown out to attract the fish 
to the spot. Of this custom the Kittiwakes — or “Pinny Owls,” as these men 
invariably call them — are well aware, and swarms of them quickly collect 
around the boats to pick up the morsels before they sink. They are very 
tame, and if one of the flock is shot the others hover over it as Terns 
will do on similar occasions. The usual way of taking them, however, 
is with hook and line, the bait being allowed to float oflf on the surface, 
when it is quickly seized by one of the greedy horde. In this manner 
great numbers are annually taken by the fishermen, who either skin and 
stew them or use the flesh for bait. I was assured that a “Pinny Owl” 
stew is by no means an unpalatable dish. 
After the morning fishing is at an end the ve’ssels start for their an- 
chorage in Swampscott harbor, and the fish are dressed on the way. This 
gives the Gulls another chance which is not neglected, for the entire flock 
* Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, translated from the French by Charles Pomeroy 
Otis, Ph.D., with historical illustrations, and a Memoir, by Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, A. 
M. Vol. II, 1604-1610, Boston, published by Prince Society, 1878. 
