A First Glance at the Birds, 



color but even more slender than Bona- 

 parte's gull. The swallows among sea 

 birds, with long, forked tails, sharp 

 wings, and acute bills, they may always 

 be distinguished by their habit of flying 

 with the head pointed abruptly down- 

 ward, and by their practice of plunging 

 from the air down into the water — a 

 habit never shared by the gulls. 



The confines of San Francisco Bay 

 are too limited to hold such ocean ran- 

 gers as the albatrosses and petrels, which 

 form the next great division, known as 

 the tube-nosed swimmers. Three groups 

 are included in this order — the alba- 

 trosses (the mightiest birds of flight), the 

 fulmars and shearwaters, which are about 

 the size of an average gull, and the little 

 petrels, mites scarcely larger than a 

 swallow. All these birds are masters of 

 the sea. The fiercest gale does not 

 daunt them, and they scorn any resting 

 place save the waves. During calm 

 weather they are at a disadvantage, since 

 their wings are used chiefly as sails with 

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