86 ALBATROSSES.

inhabits the western hemisphere. Skimmers are unique both in the form of the bill and in their manner of feeding. Opening the mouth, the bladelike lower mandible is dropped just beneath the surface of the water; then, flying rapidly, they may be said to literally “plow the main ” in search of their food of small aquatic animals.

80. Rynchops nigra. Linn. BLACK SKIMMER; SCISSOR- BILL (see Fig. 8). Ad. —Forehead, sides of the head, under parts, and tips of the sec- ondaries white; upper parts and wings black, outer tail— feathers white, inner ones more or less b1ownish. L. 18 00; W. 14 50; T. 4 75' B. 2 60.

Range. —Coasts of the W111 111cr parts of America, breeding regularly as far north as southern New Jersey, and, after the breeding season, occasionally wandering northward as far as the Bay of Fundy.

Washington, A. V. Long Island, occasional in summer.

Nest, a slight depression in the sand or shells of a beach. Eggs, three to four, white or bufi‘y white, heavily blotched with chocolate, 1-80 x 1-35.

A not uncommon species on our southern coasts, resembling other members of this family in habits.

ORDER TUBINARES. TUBE-NOSE!) SWIMMERS.

FAMILY DIOMEDEIDIE. ALBATROSSES.

The Albatrosses, numbering eight or ten species, are confined chiefly to the seas of the southern hemisphere. They are eminently pelagic birds, possessed of untiring powers of flight. Four species visit our Pacific coast, but on the Atlantic coast of North America Albatrosses are almost unknown, and there are but few records of their occurrence.

The WANDERING ALBATROSS (80'1. Diomedea exulam), the largest of all sea birds, with an expanse ofwing which measures from twelve to fourteen feet, inhabits antarctic seas, but sometimes wanders northward, and is said to have been seen in Tampa Bay, Florida.

The YELLOW-NOSED ALBATROSS (83. Tlialasxngeron culminates) is also a southern species which is said to have been taken once in Quebec (Chamber— lain, Nuttall’s Manual, 2d ed., ii, p. 277).

FAMILY PROCELLARIIDJE. SHEARWATERS AND PETRELS.

The seventy known species of Petrels are distributed over the seas of the world. Some thirty species have been found in North America, of which seven occur regularly on our Atlantic coast. Like their large relatives, the Albatrosses, they are strictly pelagic, and visit the land only to nest. The strong, swift flight of Shearwaters, and the graceful movements of the smaller “Mother Carey’s Chickens,” are familiar sights to those who go “down to the sea in ships.”