GEALLATOEBS. 



257 



Fam. Alcidae (Auks). The wings are short and ill-adapted for flight. Then- 

 are . however, small remiges. The swimming-feet with rudimentary or without 

 hind toe. Their common breeding-places are on the coasts ( l'<i;/f/ /></</< ). where 

 they lay their eggs singly in holes in the earth or in nests, and bring up 

 their young. Alca impi-nnis L., Great Auk; now extirpated. A. toi-da L., 

 Razorbill ; Mormon arct'n'-us 111. (fratcrcula Temm.), Puffin ; Ui-in troile. Lath., 

 Guillemot; U. f/ri/lle Cuv., Black Guillemot. 



Fam. Colymbidse (Divers). The head has a pointed straight beak. The freely 

 projecting metatarsus is strongly laterally compressed. The feet are palmate 

 or fissipalmate. Podicrps crixtatus L., Great crested Grebe ; P. minor Gm. ; 

 Coli/mbus ijlacialis L., Great Northern Diver. 



Fam. Lamellirostres. Beak broad, deep at the base, covered with a soft, 

 richly innervated skin, with transverse lamellae on its edges (dentated appear- 

 ance), and ends with a nail-like extremity. The feet are palmate (/>. palnmti). 

 with rudimentary hind toe, which is sometimes naked, sometimes fringed with 

 membrane. PJicenicnjttcrvs aiitiquonun L., Flamingo, North Africa : Ci/<jnux 

 h- L., Mute Swan ; C. mmicus Bechst,. Whonper ; Aiiser cinrri'it* .Meyer, 

 Gray Goose ; .4. lnji>i-rbom(s L., Snow Goose ; A. scyetiim L., Bean Goose ; 

 AIMS boxclin* L., Wild Duck, the ancestral species of the various races of 

 domestic ducks; A. (Tudorna) tadorna, L., Sheldrake; Me.iyus iiicf/a/M'/- L.. 

 Goosander; M. ttcrrutin- L., Eedbreasted Merganser ; M. nUcllua L., Smew. 



Fam. Stegauopodes. Large swimming birds, with small head, well developed, 

 often long and pointed wings, with swimming feet (j). atcf/ttn't). Prlrcanux 

 miocrottiliix L., Pelican; Ilalieus carlo, Cormorant; Taelii/jx-trs mjiiiJa L., 

 Frigate Bird : Sula bassana L., Gannet, North Europe ; Pltaeton wtherius L., 

 Tropicbird. 



Fam. Laridae (Gulls). Lightly built Swallow- or Pigeon-like swimming- 

 birds, with long pointed wings and often forked tail, relatively high, three-toed 

 swimming-feet and free hind toe. They dive from the air (Stosstaucher). 

 Sterna lurundo L., Tern ; Laws minutux Pall., Little Gull ; L. rliUbmulus L., 

 Blackheaded Gull ; L. canns L., Common Gull ; L-xtris jinrnxi1i,-n T... Skua. 

 North German Coasts ; MJtyndiops nujnt L., Skimmer. 



Fam. Procellariidaa (Sturmvogel). Gull-like birds, with rostrum compositum. 

 Feet palmate, hind toe absent or reduced to a stump. They select rocky and 

 precipitous coasts for their common breeding-places. The female lays one egg 

 and takes turn with the male in incubation. The young are nurtured for a 

 longtime. Diomedr-a exvlans L., Albatross, South Sea; Pi'ocdlariu. 

 L., Fulmar Petrel, from the Arctic Seas to North German ( -oasts ; 

 pdaywa L., Stormy Petrel, Atlantic Ocean. 



Order 2. GEALLATORES (WADERS). 



Birds ivith lony thin neck and long beak, ivith elongated 

 leys (p. vadantes). 



The Grallatores are adapted for an aquatic life, since they have 

 to seek their food in water, but their adaptations are of a different 

 kind to those of the Natatores. They live more in swampy places, 

 on the banks of rivers and seas, and wade through shallow water in 



VOL. II. 17 



