I/O STRUCTURAL AND SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY 



10. Gavice, distinguished by their long, pointed 

 wings, usually long tail, and by great powers of flight. 

 They are all carnivorous. Such are the gulls and terns, 

 which frequent the seacoast, lakes, and rivers; and the 



FIG. 151. Tern (Sterna), 



auk which is found in 'northern seas. The great auk 



was flightless and became extinct as a result of unre- 

 stricted killing by 

 fishermen and oth- 

 ers who regularly 

 visited the nesting 

 grounds of this bird 

 on the islands and 

 along the coast of 

 the North Atlantic 

 for the purpose 

 of collecting the 

 eggs, and killing 

 the birds for their 

 feathers and oil. 



The last living specimen of the great auk was seen in 1 842. 

 ii. Limicolce, or shore birds, include the snipes, 



plovers, woodcock, sandpipers, phalaropes, stilts, avocets, 



FIG. 152. Sandpiper ( T. 



hypoleuca) . England. 



