4 T Hees vA ULD*UABIO IN? VB Ue Eerie 
water reeds and near them a pair of American oyster-catchers stood motion- 
less. Noted for their fondness for oysters and clams, these birds reputedly 
carry Closed shells high in the air and drop them onto rocks to break the 
shell and eat the soft contents. They fiash a vivid black and white pattern 
in flight, topped off by a long vermillion bill, Herring gulls and black- 
Three species of clams; Cardium, upper left; Venus, lower left; scallop, 
right center. Common on North Carolina sandy coast. 
Venus and scallops are both food delicacies. 
headed laughing gulls constantly landed and soared about the shoal; the air 
was filled with the squealing notes of least terns and occasionally the 
raucous “ka-arr” of the Caspian. Shorebirds probed nervously in the sand 
for burrowers they could dig out or aquatics left stranded by high tide. 
Piping plovers, Wilson’s plover, sanderling’s, least and semi-palmated sand- 
pipers were all hard at work. A group of 35 black skimmers flew over, 
black-backed, clear white below, with the characteristic uneven red bill, the 
lower mandible nearly a third longer than the upper. Later some flew by 
singly, skimming low over the surf, dipping that lower mandible into the 
water occasionally to pick up surface food. This is certainly a bird appro- 
priately named and one we saw frequently along the coast, nearly always 
skimming the surface. 
We visited Bird Shoal on a second occasion in late morning, just as 
high tide was coming in. The special purpose of this trip was to find 
Callianassa, an unusual crustacian which lives in burrows a meter or more 
deep in flat sand beaches. Our guide chose several holes on the surface 
which looked promising and we began to dig around them with long-handled 
shovels. We scooped out pits deep enough to bury a man standing up, but 
luck was not with us — no Callianassas crawled into view. 
Dredging in deep water brought to the surface some interesting marine 
animals. A dredge is lowered over the stern of the boat and allowed to 
drag on or near the bottom as the boat chugs along. When a few minutes 
