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CHAPTER XIX. 



Longipennes, Long-winged. — Skimmers. — Singular Bill. — Terns, or Sea- 

 Swallows. — Anecdote of. — Gulls. — Capacity for enduring Cold. — Vora- 

 cious Feeders. — Breeding Places. — South Stack described. — Albatross. 

 — Roaming Habits. — Tristan D'Acunha. —Resort for Breeding. — Vora- 

 city. — Petrels. — Nests. — Feed at Night. — Superstition of Sailors 

 respecting. — Bre vipennes, Short-winged. — Divers. — Crested Glebe. — 

 Great Destroyers of Fish.— Guillemots. — Razor-bills. — Puffins and 

 Auks. 



Table XXIX. (See page 23.) 



Order 6. Palmipedes.— Tribe 3. Longipennes {Long -winged). 



This tribe comprises : — 1. Rhynchops, or Skimmers ; 2. 

 Sterna, Terns ; 3. Larus, Gulls ; 4. Diomedea, Albatross ; 

 5. Procellaria, Petrels. 



All these are long-winged birds, proper to the main ocean, 

 and, by means of their powers of flight, are spread widely over 

 the world. They may be known by either having no back-toe 

 at all, or by that toe being free — that is, not united with the 

 others by a membrane, forming one large web, as in the 

 preceding tribe ; and by their bill, without indentations, but 

 bent at the end, as in the Procellaria, or Petrels, the extremity 

 of which seems to consist of a piece fastened on, or pointed, 

 as in all the rest. 



The Skimmer derives its name from the way in which it 

 feeds, flying generally so close to the water, that the under 

 mandible just skims below the surface, while the upper is kept 

 wide open, so that on its meeting with any floating substance, 

 it closes immediately upon it. It is a bird with little feet, 

 long wings, and a forked tail ; but its bill is so extraordinary, 

 that there is no mistaking it for the Sea-Swallow's, which in 

 other respects it closely resembles ; the lower mandible is the 

 shortest, and the other shuts upon it like the two blades of a 

 pair of scissors. 



