BRITISH BIRDS, 



WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



ORDER GAVIXE. 



THE term Gaviae, applied to the Order of birds to be described in the 

 succeeding pages, and adopted from the occasionally used Italian word gavia, 

 signifying a Gull, is now restricted to the two families containing the Gulls and 

 Terns (Laridtt) and the Skuas (Stercorariidcej ', although on its first application it 

 included several additional groups. 



These families form a very compact and easily recognized assemblage of birds, 

 of which members of one or other of their genera must be familiar to every 

 visitor to our coasts, lakes, marshes, or river estuaries ; for they are found in all 

 such situations in almost every country in the world in the summer (of their 

 latitude) and not a few of them throughout the winter also. Their nearest relatives 

 are the Plovers. Though externally not very similar to them, many of the Laridce, 

 the Terns especially, agree with them in many of their other characters, such as 

 in the form of their wings, the colour of their eggs, and, chiefly, in their internal 

 anatomy. 



Without going into details of their internal structure, the Gavise may be 

 easily recognized. They are water- frequenting birds, with sharp or coulter-shaped 



VOL. VI. B 



