GENUS 92. RYNCHOPS. SKIMMER. 
SPECIES. RHYNCHOPS NIGR^. 
BLACK SKIMMER, OR SHEARWATER. 
[Plate LX. — Fig. 4.] 
Arct. Zool. JVb. 445. — Catesby, i, 90. — Le Bee en Ciseaux, Buff. 
VIII, 454, tab. 36. — Peale’s Museum, JYo. 3530.* 
This truly singular fowl is the only species of its tribe hith- 
erto discovered. Like many others, it is a bird of passage in 
the United States; and makes its first appearance, on the shores 
of New Jersey, early in May. It resides there, as well as along 
the whole Atlantic coast, during the summer; and retires early 
in September. Its favourite haunts are low sand-bars, raised 
above the reach of the summer tides; and also dry flat sands on 
the beach, in front of the ocean. On such places it usually 
breeds along the shores of Cape May, in New Jersey. On oc- 
count of the general coldness of the spring there, the Shear- 
water does not begin to lay until early in June, at which time 
these birds form themselves into small societies, fifteen or twen- 
ty pair frequently breeding within a few yards of each other. 
The nest is a mere hollow, formed in the sand, without any 
materials. The female lays three eggs, almost exactly oval, of 
a clear white, marked with large round spots of brownish black, 
and intermixed with others of pale Indian ink. These eggs 
measure one inch and three quarters, by one inch and a quarter. 
Half a bushel and more of eggs has sometimes been collected 
from one sand bar, within the compass of half an acre. These 
eggs have something of a fishy taste; but are eaten by many 
people on the coast. The female sits on them only during the 
PI. Enl. 357 . 
