Black skimmer

Review bycanaryswear· 2026-11-04

It flies high always at night there over the lagoon. It is the same size as a dove. Its head is quite small, black. Its breast is somewhat white, somewhat dark. Its back is black; its wings quite small. Its body is all small and round, its tail small, and its legs are like a dove’s. For this reason is it called “obsidian bill”: it has three bills in all. Its food enters in two places, [though] there is only one throat by which it swallows it. It has also two tongues. Its [three] bills are one over the other. And if one captures this black skimmer, it is a sign that he is about to die. And they say that his house will be destroyed; his house folk will perish. For this reason it is named a bird of ill omen. The food of the black skimmer is water flies, flying ants which fly high.