124 THE STORY OF THE BIRDS 



Northern Hemisphere, especially during summer. 

 The Cleft-footed Sandpipers and Snipes (Scolo- 

 pacinae) are nearly cosmopolitan, but most domi- 

 nant during summer in the Arctic Regions. 

 Returning now to the families, the sixth of these, 

 the Jacanas (Parridae), are found in the Tropics 

 right round the world ; the seventh, the Crab 

 Plovers (Dromadidae), contains but a single 

 species, which is distributed round the coasts 

 of the Indian Ocean. The eighth contains those 

 aberrant birds the Sheath-bills (Chionididae), 

 which are restricted to various islands in the 

 southern seas, such as the Falklands, South 

 Georgia, Kerguelen, and the Crozets. The ninth 

 and last family contains the Seed Snipes (Thino- 

 corythidae) ; these birds are distributed over the 

 southern or temperate portions of the Neotropical 

 Region. 



Our next order, the Lariformes, is also a 

 most cosmopolitan one, distributed over the 

 seas and coasts of the entire earth almost 

 from pole to pole. The three families, com- 

 prising the Gulls, Terns, and Skuas respectively 

 which are included in this order, are each 

 cosmopolitan in distribution, but some of the 

 genera are very locally dispersed, some being 

 confined to high arctic latitudes, others to 



