xl INTRODUCTION. 



which is sharply decurved, with an acute tip ; nasal tubes moderately long, 

 elevated, conspicuous, the dorsal outline straight, the orifice subcircular. 

 Wings long and pointed, extending beyond the tail when folded ; the first 

 quill a trifle longer than the second. Tail moderately long and graduated. 

 Tarsi reticulated ; feet and front toes of moderate size ; hind toe small and 

 elevated (p. 745). 



Bui.WERiA, Bonaparte. — Bill about as long as the head, stout at the base, com- 

 pressed, rising at the nail, which is large ; nostrils tubular, dorsal, rather 

 short. Wings long, pointed, the first quill slightly the longest. Tail long 

 and cuneate. Legs slender ; the tibiae bare for a short distance above the 

 joint, the tarsi reticulated ; hind toe minute, elevated ; feet fully webbed, the 

 inner toe shorter than the middle and outer toes, which are about equal ; claws 

 curved (p. 749). 



FULMARI-TS, Stephens. — Bill not so long as the head ; the upper mandible com- 

 posed of four portions, divided by lines or indentations, the whole together 

 large and strong, curving suddenly towards the point ; the under mandible 

 grooved along each side, bent at the end, with a prominent angle beneath ; 

 the edges of both mandibles sharp ; those of the lower mandible shutting 

 just within those above. Nostrils prominent along the upper ridge of the 

 upper mandible, but united, enclosed, and somewhat hidden within a tube 

 with a single external orifice, within which the division between the two 

 nasal openings is visible. Wings rather long, the first quill the longest in 

 the wing. Tarsi compressed ; feet moderate, three toes in front united Iiy 

 membranes, hind toe rudimentary with a conical claw (p. 751). 



Family DIOMEDEID.E. 



Nostrils lateral, separated by the wide culmen, each in a separate horny sheath 

 opening forwards ; margin of the sternum uneven, the sternum itself short com- 

 pared with its width ; no pterygoid processes ; manubrium of furcula short, very 

 wide at the base and widely divergent ; first i)rimary the longest (Salvin). 



DiOMEDEA, Linntviis.— Sides of the mandible without longitudinal sulcus ; base 

 of the culminicorn wide, joining the proximal end of the dorsal edge of the 

 latericorn : tail short, rounded (p. 753). 



Remarks. — In this Edition, the length of a liird is measured from the point of 

 the bill to the end of the tail ; and in all cases average measurements are to l)e 

 understood. 



The upper mandible is often called the maxilla, and the tarsus is strictly the 

 tarso-metatarsus ; but I have adhered to old-fashioned terms. 



