Page:Birdcraft-1897.djvu/88

 LAND—BIRDS.

ORDER TUBINAREB: TUBE—NOSE!) BWIMMERS. Family Procellaridse: Shearwatets, Petrels, etc. Page 268. 1 Species.

The various Petrels are comprised in this family; they are oﬁ-shore birds of Gull-like appearance. Dr. Coues says of one group, that their “ﬂight is peculiarly airy and ﬂicker- ing, more like that of a butterﬂy than like ordinary birds; they are almost always seen on the wing, appearing to swim little if any, and some, if not all, breed in holes in the ground like Bank Swallows.”

ORDER LONGIPENNBS: LONG-WINGHD SWIMMHRB. Family Larida : Gulls and Terns. Page 269. 7 Species.

Off-shore birds, breeding on the coastwise islands. The Gulls are large and stout, with hooked bills, large feet, and strong wings that make their ﬂight even and steady, and not impulsive and dashing like the Terns’. They both dive for their food and glean it from the surface of the water. The Terns are more slender, have greater rapidity in ﬂying, and forked tails; the tails of the Gulls are never forked.

ORDER PYGOPODES: DIVING BIRDS. Family Alcidaa: Auks, etc. Page 275. 1 Species.

Our species, the Dovekie or Sea. Dove, is an off-shore bird seen usually about lighthouses and ﬂying in the wake of vessels. It is a rather small-sized, dusky bird, white below, with a clumsy, awkwardly-shaped body, and long wings.

Family Urinatodda: Loom. Page 276. 2 Species.

Stout divers with long bodies, legs set very far back, bob- tailed, long twisting necks, and plumage which is more or less spotted above and plain below. We see them only in the migrations, as they breed in the far north.

63