BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
25 
Genus RYNCHOPS Linn. 
Rynchops nigra Linn. 
Black Skimmer. 
Description. 
Adult .—Length about 19 inches ; extent about 50 inches. The upper mandible in 
specimen before me is nearly l of an inch shorter than the lower; both mandibles 
have obtuse ends, the lower being very blunt and rounded ; lower mandible much 
more flattened throughout its length than the upper ; both edges of lower mandible 
are sharp, and the upper edge fits in a groove, extending along the entire length of 
upper mandible. Forehead, lores, sides of head, chin, throat, front of neck and rest 
of under plumage, tips of secondaries, sides of upper tail coverts and greater part of 
tail white; crown, back of neck, back, wings, most of rump and central tail feathers 
brownish-black ; bill (dried skin) basal half yellowish (carmine in freshly killed 
specimens), rest brownish-black ; tarsi and feet reddish-brown ; the black claws are 
rather long, sharp and curved. 
Habitat .—Warmer parts of America, north on the Atlantic coast to New Jersey, 
and casually to the Bay of Fundy. 
This species is given as a Pennsylvania bird on the authority of the 
late C. D. Wood, of Philadelphia, from whom I obtained a single speci¬ 
men which he assured me was shot by himself near Philadelphia, shortly 
after a severe storm in September, 1880. This specimen is, I believe, 
the only one of its species that has ever been recorded in the state. In 
the summer of 1883—June and August—when visiting at Brigantine 
Beach, New Jersey, I saw a few of these birds in flocks of seven to 
twelve each. Fishermen and other residents of the place informed me 
they bred every year in that locality. It is said that this species still 
breeds sparingly in New Jersey, which is, I have no doubt, about the 
northern limit of their breeding range. Black Skimmers were quite 
plentiful on several islands along the eastern shore of Virginia, where I 
remained for a few days in August, 1879. 
Order TUBINARES. Tube-nosed Swimmers. 
Family PROCELLARIID^l. Petrels, Etc. 
THE PETRELS, ETC. 
The birds of this family are strictly oceanic. The few individuals that have been 
observed in Pennsylvania have all been found during or after storms that have 
driven them inland. “ The plumage is compact and oily to resist water ; the sexes 
appear to be always alike, and no seasonal changes are determined; but some vari¬ 
ation with age, or as a matter of individual peculiarity, certainly occurs in many 
cases. The food is entirely ol an animal nature, and latty substances, in particular, 
are eagerly devoured. When irritated many species eject an oily fluid from the 
mouth or nostrils, and some are so fat as to be occasionally used for lamps, a wick 
being run through the body. The eggs are few, or only one, laid in a rude nest or 
