. Camps and cruises of an ornithologist, by Frank M. Chapman .. . f the Skimmers abundance, its conserva-tism in the matter of habitat removes it from the field of ob-servation of most ornithologists, and, at the time of which Iwrite, accounts of its habits could be found only in the worksof Wilson and Audubon. Neither of these remarkably keenand sympathetic students of bird-life appears, however, tohave had an extended experience with the Skimmer duringthe nesting season. i3oth state, for instance, that it lays onlythree eggs ; whereas the full complement is four; and, Wil-son writes that the
. Camps and cruises of an ornithologist, by Frank M. Chapman .. . f the Skimmers abundance, its conserva-tism in the matter of habitat removes it from the field of ob-servation of most ornithologists, and, at the time of which Iwrite, accounts of its habits could be found only in the worksof Wilson and Audubon. Neither of these remarkably keenand sympathetic students of bird-life appears, however, tohave had an extended experience with the Skimmer duringthe nesting season. i3oth state, for instance, that it lays onlythree eggs ; whereas the full complement is four; and, Wil-son writes that the female sits on them only during thenight and in wet and stormy weather. As I desired espe-cially to secure photographs of the sitting bird, this (piestionof the day or night incubation was of importance. I madein(|uiry, tlierefore, of ornithologists who had been amongSkimmers, l)ut not one liad ever seen a Skimmer on its the life history of the Skimmer appeared to be an un-usually attractive subject for investigation. Unique in N/ V ^ rc r >■ ^. 66 TWO ATLANTIC COAST ISLANDS structure, he was known to be correspondingly unique infeeding habit; while there was something pleasantly mys-terious in the birdssupposed habit of coming home onlyafter dark. Skimmers arrive on the Virginia coast early in May, andbegin to lay about June 15; but their nests are so persist-ently robbed by fishermen that few young are hatched beforeJuly 20. The latter part of this month or early August is,therefore, the best season in which to study the domesticeconomy of the Skimmer household. It is a memorable moment in the life of the naturalistwhen the animal of books or museums, or even zoologicalgardens, is first seen by him, a wild, free creature in itshaunts; and when the animal is as singularly formed as theSkimmer, ones desire is intensified by a curiosity to see ituse its peculiar and characteristic organs. Imagine, then,the joy of an ornithologist who, for the first time, finds h
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