BLACK SKIMMER, OR SHEERWATER. 149 
still greater volume of wing is given, the sheervvater 
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 immersions of the 
tern, the gull, or the fish hawk, who, to the superficial 
observer, appear so superiorly accommodated. 
The sheerwater is most frequently seen skimming 
close along shore about the first of the flood, at which 
time the young fry, shrimp, &c. are most abundant in 
such places. There are also numerous inlets among the 
low islands between the sea beech and main land of 
Cape May, where I have observed the sheervvaters, 
eight or ten in company, passing and repassing, at high- 
water, particular estuaries of those creeks that run 
up into the salt marshes, dipping, with extended neck, 
their open bills into the water, with as much apparent 
ease as swallows glean up flies from the surface. On 
examining the stomachs of several of these, shot at the 
time, they contained numbers of a small fish, usually 
called silver sides, from a broad line of a glossy silver 
colour that runs from the gills to the tail. The mouths 
of these inlets abound with this fry, or fish, probably 
feeding on the various matters washed down from the 
marshes. 
The voice of the sheerwater is harsh and screaming, 
resembling that of the tern, but stronger. It flies with 
a slowly flapping flight, dipping occasionally, with steady 
expanded wings and bended neck, its lower mandible 
into the sea, and, with open mouth, receiving its food 
as it ploughs along the surface. It is rarely seen 
swimming on the water, but frequently rests in large 
parties on the sand bars at low water. One of these 
birds which I wounded in the wing, and kept in the 
room beside me for several days, soon became tame, 
and even familiar. It generally stood with its legs 
