378 
BLACK SKIMMER, OR SHEERWATER. 
proportions of nature by their own contracted standards of 
conception, in the plenitude of their vanity have pronounced 
it to be “ a lame and defective weapon.” Such ignorant 
presumption, or rather impiety, ought to hide its head in the 
dust on a calm display of the peculiar construction of this 
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 dipt 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 
