GRALLATORES. 257 



Fam. Alcidae (Auks). The wings are short and ill-adapted for flight. There 

 are, however, small remiges. The swimming-feet with rudimentary or without- 

 hind toe. Their common breeding-places are on the coasts ( Vogelberge), where 

 they lay their eggs singly in holes in the earth or in nests, and bring up 

 their young. Alca impennis L., Great Auk; now extirpated. A. torda L., 

 Razorbill; Mormon arcticus 111. (fratercula Temm.), Puffin ; Uria troile Lath., 

 Guillemot ; If. grylle Guv., Black Guillemot. 



Fam. Colymbidae (Divers). The head has a pointed straight beak. The freely 

 projecting metatarsus is strongly laterally compressed. The feet are palmate 

 or fissipalmate. Podiceps cristatus L., Great crested Grebe ; P. minor Gm. ; 

 Colymbus glacialts L., Great Northern Diver. 



Fam. Lamellirostres. Beak broad, deep at the base, covered with a soft, 

 richly innervated skin, with transverse lamellsB on its edges (dentated appear- 

 ance), and ends with a nail-like extremity. The feet are palmate (p. palmati), 

 with rudimentary hind toe, which is sometimes naked, sometimes fringed with 

 membrane. Plioenicopterus antiquorum L., Flamingo, North Africa ; Cygnus 

 olor L., Mute Swan ; C. musicus Bechst., Whooper ; Anser cinereus Meyer, 

 Gray Goose ; A. hyperloreus L., Snow Goose ; A. segetum L., Bean Goose ; 

 Anas losclias L., Wild Duck, the ancestral species of the various races of 

 domestic ducks; A. (Tadorna) taclorna L., Sheldrake; Mergus meganser L., 

 Goosander; 31. serrator L., Redbreasted Merganser ; M. albcllus L., Smew. 



Fam. Steganopodes. Large swimming birds, with small head, well developed, 

 often long and pointed wings, with swimming feet (p. stegani). Pelecanm 

 onocrotalus L., Pelican; Halieus carlo, Cormorant; Taehypctes aqidla L. t 

 Frigate Bird ; Sula lassana L., Gannet, North Europe ; Phaeton oetlieriu* L., 

 Tropicbird. 



Fam. Laridae (Gulls). Lightly built Swallow- or Pigeon-like swimming- 

 birds, with long pointed wings and often forked tail, relatively high, three-toed 

 swimming-feet and free hind toe. They dive from the air (Stosstaucher). 

 Sterna liirundo L. r Tern ; Larus minutus Pall., Little Gull; L. ridilundus L., 

 Blackheaded Gull ; L. canus L., Common Gull ; Lestris parasitica L., Skua, 

 North German Coasts ; Rliyncliops nigra L., Skimmer. 



Fam. Procellariidae (Sturmvogel). Gull-like birds, with rostrum compositum . 

 Feet palmate, hind toe absent or reduced to a stump. They select rocky and 

 precipitous coasts lor their common breeding-places. The female lays one egg 

 and takes turn with the male in incubation. The young are nurtured for a 

 long time. Diomedea exulans L., Albatross, South Sea ; Procellaria glacialis 

 L., Fulmar Petrel, from the Arctic Seas to North German Coasts ; TUalassidroma 

 pdayica L., Stormy Petrel, Atlantic Ocean. 



Order 2. GRALLATORES (WADERS). 



Birds with long thin neck and long beak, with elongated wading 

 legs (p. vadantes). 



The Grallatores are adapted for an aquatic life, since they have 

 to seek their food in water, but their adaptations are of a different 

 kind to those of the Natatores. They live more in swampy places, 

 on the banks of rivers and seas, and wade through shallow water in 



VOL. II. IT 



