89 
BLACK SKIMMER, OR SHEARWATER. 
KHYJVCHOFS NIGEJl. 
[Plate LX.— Fig. 4.] 
Cut-water, Arct. Zool. JVo. 445.— Catesby, I, 90.— Le Bec-en-ciseaux, Buff. VIII, 454, 
tab. 36. PI. Enl. 357.— Ind. Orn. p. 30%—Sygchopsalia, Briss. 6,^. 223, pi. il, fig. 2. 
Peale’s Museum^ Ko, 3530. 
THIS truly singular fowl is the only species of its tribe hither- 
to 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 Sep- 
tember. Its favorite 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 account of the general 
coldness of the spring there, the Shearwater does not begin to lay 
until early in June, at which time these birds form themselves into 
small societies, fifteen or twenty 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 
exactlv 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 
night, or in wet and stormy weather. The young remain for seve- 
ral weeks before they arc able to fly ; are fed with great assiduity 
7 . 
VOL. VII. 
