The Black Skimmer of the Seas.
This bird, which is sometimes called sheerwater, is a lover of the ocean, and spends nearly his whole life in skimming along its surface, or in sitting upon its shores.
A person, on looking at the creature’s bill, might think it a very clumsy contrivance; for the lower mandible, or jaw, is a great deal longer than the upper one. People used to think that there was some mistake of nature, in giving this bird what seemed to them so inconvenient a tool for getting a living with. But this was only one of those instances in which ignorance led to presumption, and presumption to folly. A better knowledge of the sheerwater’s ways of life has served to show, that in this case, as in all others, the Author of nature has shown wonderful skill in adapting means to ends; in supplying His creatures with the best possible contrivances for the trade or profession they are to follow.
Now, the black skimmer is made for a fisherman; he is made to feast upon shrimps, and small fishes of various kinds, that live near the surface of the water. Accordingly, he is provided with a bill, the lower part of which is the longest, and which he can dip in the water while he is skimming close over its face. In order to prevent this from impeding his progress, it is shaped like the blade of a knife, and thus it cuts the water with ease. As he speeds along, his bill scoops up the little fishes, and by the impetus of his flight, they are carried along in his bill, and swallowed as he goes.
No better proof of the success of the ingenious contrivance furnished by nature to the sheerwater can be needed, than that he is a lucky fisherman, and seems to enjoy an almost perpetual banquet. His wings are made of vast length, on purpose to assist him in sustaining his continued flight; and thus he seems to sail as if the wind were made on purpose for him; and he feasts as if the wide ocean were his larder.
This singular and interesting bird comes to us along the northern shores of the Atlantic, in May, and retires to the south in autumn, where he spends the winter. His favorite haunts are low sand-bars, raised above the reach of the tides. He builds his nest on dry flats, near the ocean. His body is nineteen inches long, and his wings, when expanded, are forty-four inches from tip to tip. Thus the sheerwater, instead of being shabbily treated, is a striking instance of the adaptation of nature’s work, to the purposes of its great Author.