CLASSIFICATION OF THE BIRDS OF NORTH 
AMERICA.* 
ORDER L—PYGOPODES (DIVING BIRDS). 
Ducklike birds, with generally sharply pointed bills; 
feet webbed, placed far back near the tail; tarsus much 
flattened ; hind toe, when present, with a lobe or flap ; 
bill without toothlike projections ; tail very short, and 
sometimes apparently wanting. 
FAMILY 1.—Podicipide. Grebes; 6 species. 
FamiLy 2.—Urinatoride. Loons; 5 species. 
FaMILy 3.—Alcide. Auks, Murres, and Puffins; 22 
species. 
ORDER IL.—LONGIPENNES (LONG-WINGED 
SWIMMERS). 
Birds with sharply pointed and frequently hooked or 
hawklike bills; toes four (except in the genus Rissa), the 
front ones webbed: wings long and pointed. 
FaMI.Ly 4.—Stercorariide. Skuas and Jaegers; 4 spe- 
cies. 
Famity 5.—Laride, Gulls and Terns; 43 species. 
FaMILy 6.—Rynchopide. Skimmers; 1 species. 
ORDER IIL—TUBINARES (TUBE-NOSED 
SWIMMERS). 
Bill hawklike, the tip of the upper mandible generally 
much enlarged ; nostrils opening through tubes ; hind toe 
* The arrangement and nomenclature here given is based on the 
American Ornithologist Union's Check-List, 2d edition, 1895. 
