380 
BLACK SKIMMER, OR SHEERWATER. 
by all those persons with whom I have conversed, whose long 
residence on the coast where these birds are common, has given 
them the best opportunities of knowing. 
The Sheerwater is nineteen inches in length, from the point 
of the bill to the extremity of the tail ; the tips of the wings, 
when shut, extend full four inches farther ; breadth, three feet 
eight inches ; length of the lower mandible, four inches and a 
half ; of the upper, three inches and a half ; both of a scarlet 
red, tinged with orange, and ending in black ; the lower 
extremely thin ; the upper grooved, so as to receive the edge 
of the lower ; the nostril is large and pervious, placed in a 
hollow near the base and edge of the upper mandible, where 
it projects greatly over the lower ; upper part of the head, 
neck, back, and scapulars, deep black ; wings, the same, 
except the secondaries, which are white on the inner vanes, 
and also tipt with white ; tail, forked, consisting of twelve 
feathers, the two middle ones about an inch and a half shorter 
than the exterior ones, all black, broadly edged on both sides 
with white ; tail-coverts, white on the outer sides, black in the 
middle ; front, passing down the neck below the eye, throat, 
breast, and whole lower parts, pure white ; legs and webbed 
feet, bright scarlet, formed almost exactly like those of the 
Tern. Weight, twelve ounces avoirdupois. The female 
weighed nine ounces, and measured only sixteen inches in 
length, and three feet three inches in extent; the colours and 
markings were the same as those of the male, with the excep- 
tion of the tail, which was white, shafted, and broadly centred 
with black. 
The birds from which these descriptions were taken were 
shot on the 25th of May, before they had begun to breed. 
The female contained a great number of eggs, the largest of 
which were about the size of duck-shot ; the stomach, in both, 
was an oblong pouch, ending in a remarkably hard gizzard, 
curiously puckered or plaited, containing the half-dissolved 
fragments of the small silver-sides, pieces of shrimps, small 
crabs, and skippers, or sand fleas. 
