BRANCH CHORD AT A; CLASS AYES: THE BIRDS 345 



(Gavin nnbcr), found all over the United States in winter, 

 is the largest of this group, reaching a length (from bill to 

 tip of tail) of three feet. It is black above with many 

 small white spots, and with a patch of white streaks on 

 each side of the neck and on the throat; it is white on 

 breast and belly. The female is duller, being brownish 

 instead of black. 



The auks, guillemots, puffins, and murres (fig. 137) 

 are ocean birds which gather, in the breeding season, in 

 countless numbers on the bleak rocks and inaccessible 

 cliffs of the northern oceans. Each female lays a single 

 egg (in some cases two or at most three) on the bare rock 

 or in a crevice or sort of burrow. These birds mostly fly 

 well, but are especially at home in the water, feeding ex- 

 clusively on animal substances found there. A famous 

 species is the great auk (A lea impcnnis], which has 

 become extinct in historical times. The last living speci- 

 men was seen in 1844. 



The gulls, terns, petrels, and albatrosses (Longi- 

 pennesi. The Longipennes are water-birds, mostly 

 maritime, with webbed feet and very long and pointed 

 wings. They are all strong flyers, and most of them 

 are beautiful birds. Their prevailing colors are white, 

 slaty or lead-blue, black, and, in the young, mottled 

 brownish. They subsist chiefly on fish, but any animal 

 substance \vill be eagerly picked up from the water ; some 

 of the gulls forage inland. Occasionally great flocks may 

 be seen following a plow near the shore and feeding on 

 the grubs and worms exposed in the freshly-turned soil. 

 Some of the gulls, like the great black-backed gull (Lams 

 marinus}, attain a length of two and one-half feet. The 

 terns (Sterna) are mostly smaller than the gulls, have a 

 bill not so heavy and not hooked, and have the tail 

 forked. 



The fulmars, shearwaters, petrels, and albatrosses are 



