2276 PLOVERS, SANDPIPERS, SNIPE, J AC AN AS, GULLS 



difficult of access. The nest is made of grass arid bent, and the eggs are usually 

 two in number, of the shape of those of the plovers, and of a somewhat similar 

 coloring, spotted dark red and brown." When first hatched the young are black. 

 The adult birds utter a harsh note, and feed chiefly on seaweed and mollusks; 

 their fearlessness being such that they will often allow themselves to be knocked 

 on the head with a stick. The seed snipe, or quail snipe, are small, short-billed 

 birds with the general appearance and habits of quail, living in dry inland dis- 

 tricts, where they subsist on plants, roots, and insects. The figured species 

 (Attagis latreillei) inhabits the Falkland islands and the higher mountains of 

 the southern part of South America. In both genera the beak is rather short 

 and compressed, with the aperture of the nostrils in most cases closed by a 

 horny membrane covered with short feathers. Generally these birds are met 

 with in pairs or small coveys of five or six, which frequent the same spots for long 

 periods. Although they frequent desert regions, the nest is placed near a lake, the 

 number of eggs being four or five. 



THE GULL TRIBE 

 Order GAVL^S 



Formerly associated with the petrels, the terns, skimmers, gulls, and skuas, 

 are now generally regarded as nearly allied to the Limicolez, with which they agree 



in the arrangement of their plumage. 

 Externally these birds are characterized 

 by the prevalence of pure gray and white 

 in their adult plumage, and by the com- 

 plete webbing of the three front toes, as 

 well as by their long wings, in which the 

 fifth secondary quill is wanting. Their 

 skulls differ from those of the typical 

 Limicolce in the absence of basipterygoid 

 processes on the inferior surface of the 

 rostrum; while the hinder extremity of 

 the lower jaw is abruptly truncated, and 

 in the wing the flat bone, corresponding 

 to the first joint of the human forefinger, 

 has two circular perforations a feature 



distinguishing the skeleton from that of any of the plover tribe and their allies. 

 Throughout the group there are deep grooves on the upper surface of the skull for 

 glands, the development of these being very variable among the Limicola. Except 

 in the skimmers, the beak is simple, and may be either straight or hooked. In the 

 wing there are ten large primaries, and one minute and concealed; the whole plum- 

 age is remarkably compact, the contour feathers having aftershafts; there are 

 twelve tail feathers; the spinal feather tract is well defined by bare lateral areas on 



YOUNG GULLS COVERED WITH DOWN. 



