ORDER OF TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS 



Order Stcgaiwpodes 



IX families are gathered in this order. All the members are large birds, two feet 

 or more in length, but they differ greatly in appearance and habits. However, 

 they agree in having all four toes joined with webs — hence the name 

 " Totipalmate " has been applied to this group. Their bills are horny and 

 are usually hooked and hard at the tip. Their mouths can be opened very 

 wide; their tongues are small and knoblike. Each bird is equipped with a 

 gular or throat pouch. The nostrils are very small or rudimentary. 



Nests are built on the ground, on rocky ledges, or in brushy trees near 

 the water. The eggs are single or few, usually plain-colored, but covered 

 ^- with a chalky incrustation. The young are hatched helpless and naked, but 

 are soon covered with down. All of the Totipalmate Swimmers are carnivorous in diet, 

 their food consisting almost entirely of fish. 



TROPIC-BIRDS 



Order Steganopodes; family PhaetJwntidcr 



HE Tropic-bird's habit of prolonged soaring, often at a great height, and, as 

 it were, in the very path of the sun, suggested to Linn^us its family name 

 Pha'ethontidcc, which is in reference to the Greek mythological tale of Phaeton, 

 the son of Helios, the sun god, who induced his father to let him attempt to 

 drive the chariot of the sun across the skies, but lost control of the horses and 

 scorched the earth by driving too near it, wherefore he was killed by a thunder- 

 bolt of Zeus. 



The Tropic-bird family includes six species, two of which breed as far 

 north as the tropic of Cancer, and are often found about the West Indies, 

 while individuals occasionally wander along the eastern coast of North America 

 even as far north as Newfoundland. All have white plumage of satiny appear- 

 ance, often with a pinkish tinge, and a black patch or bar in the eye region. 

 The bill may be red, yellow, or orange in color, is pointed and somewhat curved, and the 

 edges are toothed. The wings are long and rather slim; the tail is composed of from twelve 

 to sixteen feathers, of which the central pair are much elongated and are slenderer than the 

 others. Excepting the last-named peculiarity, the Tropic-birds resemble in their contour 

 large Terns. They differ from the Man-o'-war-birds in general color, and in the shape of the 

 bill, as well as in the absence of the throat sac, and the naked area about the eyes, and by 

 the long central tail-feathers. The plumage of the sexes in the adults is alike, but the 

 immature birds lack the long tail-feathers and show more irregularity in their marking. 



The flight of the Tropic-bird dififers from that of the Albatross in that it is accomplished 

 by uniform, rather rapid, and entirely apparent wing-strokes, whereas the movement of the 

 Albatross's wings usually is so slight as to be almost imperceptible. Nevertheless the 

 Tropic-bird's flight performances are often very spectacular, and include frequent and 

 thrilling dives from great heights into the ocean. Moreover, its power of sustained flight for 

 enormous distances is fully established, though it frequently shows signs of exhaustion by 

 dropping into the rigging of a ship in mid-ocean, an evidence of weariness which is seldom, if 



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