KEY TO FAMILIES OF WATER BIRDS 



3'. Bill without soft swollen skin around nostrils. 



4. Toes always three in front, middle and outer ones never connected 

 for half their length ; feet strong'. 



Passeres : Perching Birds, p. 110. 

 4'. Toes two or three in front ; if three, middle and outer connected 

 for at least half their length, or feet small and weak. 

 5. Bill needle-like, or short, with Avide gape . Macrochires : 

 Goatsuckers, Swifts, and Hummingbirds, p. 110. 

 5. Bill not needle-like nor with wide gape. 

 6. Tail feathers stiff and pointed. 



Pici : Woodpeckers, p. 110. 



6'. Tail feathers soft, with normal tijjs .... Coccyges : 



Cuckoos, Trogons, and Kingfishers, p. 109. 



KEY TO FAMILIES OF WATER BIRDS. 

 ORDER PYGOPODBS: DIVING BIRDS. 



1. Tail wanting; feet not fully webbed. 



Podicipidae : Grebes, p. 5. 



1'. Tail present, but short ; feet webbed. 



2. Hind toe present Gaviidae : Loons, p. 9. 



2'. Hind toe absent ...*... Alcidae : 

 Auks, Murres, and Pufifins, p. 11. 



Fig. 3. 



ORDER LONGIPENNES: LONG- WINGED 

 SWIMMERS. 



I ' • Upper mandible with distinct basal saddle. 



f Stercorariidee : Jaegers, etc., p. 17. 



:^^^ ^^j_ 1'. Upper mandible in one piece. 



^ Laridce : Gulls and Terns, p. 19. 



Fig. 6. 



