608 



COLLEGE ZOOLOGY 



The spotted sandpiper, Actitis macularia (Fig. 496), which may 

 be taken as an example of this enormous family, occurs through- 

 out temperate North America. It lives in the vicinity of water, 

 and feeds upon insects, earthworms, and other small animals. 

 The four eggs are laid in a hollow in the ground, and the young 

 are able to run about as soon as hatched. 



The JACANID^E are tropical marsh-birds, with very long toes 

 and claws enabling them to walk over lily pads without sinking. 

 The Mexican jacana, Jacana spinosa, reaches Texas. 



FIG. 497. Common tern, Sterna hirundo. 

 after Fuertes.) 



(From Davenport, 



The LARID.E are known as gulls, terns, skimmers, kittiwakes, 

 noddies, skuas, and jaegers. The American herring-gulls, Larus 

 argentatus, are about two feet long. They breed along the 

 Atlantic coast and also in the interior from Minnesota north- 

 wards. Their nests are built on the ground of grasses, seaweed, 

 etc., and two or three eggs are laid. The terns, or sea-swallows 

 (Fig. 497) , are as a rule smaller and slimmer than the gulls. They 

 frequent the shores of both fresh and salt water, feed upon fish, 



