Gulls and Allies 385 



so called from the fact that the nape, sides of the neck, and hind neck are pure 

 white, while the general color above, including the wings, is cinnamon-rufous, the 

 rump white, the primaries black, and the sides of the face, throat, and fore neck 

 black, with the under parts deep chestnut. Its habits are those of its kind. 



THE GULLS AND THEIR ALLIES 



(Suborder Lari) 



Without going extensively into the historical side of the question, beyond 

 the statement that the Gulls and their immediate relatives were formerly and 

 by some the Auks are still placed in the same group with the Petrels, it seems 

 now generally acknowledged that they are most closely related to the shore-birds 

 (Limicolce), with which they essentially agree in the arrangement of the feather 

 pattern, as was long ago pointed out by Nitzsch, as well as in nearly every essential 

 detail of their anatomy. They are for the most part large or medium-sized birds 

 of aquatic habits, with long, usually pointed wings in which there are eleven 

 primaries, the terminal one being very short and inconspicuous, while the three 

 front toes are webbed and the hind toe (sometimes absent) is small, raised above 

 the level of the others and not united with them. As regards the details of the 

 skeleton it may be mentioned that the nostrils are slit-like (schizorhinal), the 

 palate split (schizognathous), and the basipterygoid processes absent, in which 

 feature they differ from the typical Limicola, while they agree in having fifteen 

 cervical vertebrae and a U-shaped furcula. In another suggestive manner the 

 resemblance between the Plovers and the members of the present group is shown 

 in the nidification, as they generally make no nest or only a slight one of grass, 

 and the one to four eggs are double-spotted, resembling the eggs of Plovers so 

 closely that a considerable percentage of the eggs sold in Europe as "Plover's 

 eggs," it is said, are laid by Terns. The young when hatched are covered with 

 down, which, however, is of a more complex nature than that clothing the young 

 Plovers, and, although they seem able to run about, they are fed by the parents 

 in or near the nest for some time. 



The present suborder as here accepted embraces two families, or as they 

 might perhaps better be called, superfamilies, the Larida, or Gulls, Terns, Skim- 

 mers, and Skuas, in which the sternum is provided with four notches, and the 

 Alcida, or the Auks and their kin, which have a two-notched sternum. Following 

 Mr. Blanford, the Larida are considered to include four families or subfamilies, 

 the Larina, or Gulls, the Sternina, or Terns, the Rhynchopina, or Skimmers, and 

 the StercorariincB, or Skuas and Jaegers. The first three are distinguished 

 by the fact that the bill is without a cere and the claws but moderately curved, 

 not being shaped or fitted especially for grasping, while the caeca or blind 

 intestines are rudimentary. In the Skuas and Jaegers, however, the bill is pro- 

 vided with a cere for nearly half its length, and the feet are armed with strong, 

 much-curved, and very sharp claws, which, as will be shown later, fit them for 

 a rapacious existence; their coeca are long and well developed. 



