Page:Bird-lore Vol 01.djvu/96

82 bill, which is longer than the upper, projects below the surface of the water, and when it comes in contact with a small fish, the latter simply slide up the narrow, inclined plane into the Skimmer's mouth.

Formerly they bred in great numbers along the eastern coast of our Middle and Southern Atlantic states, and only a few years ago

were abundant on the New Jersey coast. They have been crowded out, however, by encroaching civilization, and hunted down by the milliners&rsquo; agents and the egg-collectors. In June, 1898, I found them on Cobb&rsquo;s Island, Virginia, to the number of about two hundred pairs, where, not long ago, they bred in thousands.

As the eggs are entirely exposed, the parents are relieved to some extent from the duty of incubation by the heat of the sun, and as soon as the young hatch they run about like chickens.

After getting two good pictures of the Skimmer and her eggs, I turned my attention to a Gull-billed Tern, and while standing over

her nest, which contained two eggs and one fuzzy young, just hatched, I obtained a rather remarkable picture of the parent bird flying straight at the camera, nicely illustrating what a small sectional area a bird occupies while flying.