42 



KEY TO FAMILIES. 



A. Tip of the upper inaudible more or less swollen, rounded, and 

 sharply pointed ; upper parts, including wings, and sometimes the 

 entire plumage, dark sooty blackish, sometimes irregularly barred ; 

 tail always dark, the middle feathers longest. . . . Family ISterco- 

 rariidiK: SKUAS and JAEGERS (Fig. 6, a), p. 65. 



B. Upper mandible curved but not swollen at the end ; tail generally 

 white, sometimes tipped with black ; the tail-feathers usually of about 

 equal length. . . . Subfamily Larince : GULLS (Fig. 6, b), p. 67. 



Fia. 7. 



FIG. 8. 



C. Bill straight, not hooked and sharply pointed ; outer tail-feathers 

 generally longer than the middle ones. Subfamily Sternince, : TERNS 

 (Fig. 7), p. 76. 



D. Bill thin and bladelike, the lower mandible much longer than the 

 upper one. . . . Family Rynchopidw : SKIMMERS (Fig. 8), p. 85. 



Fio. 9. 



Order 111. Tubinares. ALBATROSSES, PETRELS, and FULMARS. 



Bill hawklike, the tip of the upper mandible generally much enlarged; 

 nostrils opening through tubes; hind toe reduced to a mere nail, and 

 sometimes entirely wanting. 



A. Size very large, nostrils separated and on either side of the bill. . . . 

 Family Diomedeidae : ALBATROSSES (Fig. 9, a), p. 86. 



B. Size smaller, nostrils joined and placed on top of the bill. . . . 

 Family I*rvcellariidai : PETRELS, FULMARS, and SHEARWATERS (Fig. 



9, 6), p. 86. 



