298 FEET OF SKUAS. 



upon oily carcasses which they find floating in the 

 sea, or on land carrion, to which they have no objec- 

 tion, if it comes in their way. Some of them also eat 

 crustaceous animals and shelled mollusca ; and they 

 may very naturally be supposed to hold these with 

 the claws while they break or divide them with the 

 strong bill. The annexed is the foot of the common 

 species. 



Common Skua. 



The terns, which have very much the form of the 

 swallow tribe in the body, the wings, and the tail, ami 

 also in style of flight, though the bill and the food are 

 different, have the tarsi shorter, and the feet altogether 

 smaller than any others of the group. They at the 

 same time, however, preserve a certain degree of 

 likeness to the gulls, and, like these, many of them 

 are discovered inland upon the fresh waters. 



Terns are the birds most peculiarly adapted tor 

 twitching small prey out of the water, which they do 

 with wonderful celerity; and their feet, with very 

 short tarsi, and articulated forwards upon the body, 

 enable them to alight and arise in the swift and easy 

 manner formerly alluded to. Their front toes are all 

 nearly of equal length, their hind toe very small, free, 

 and pointing downwards. 



