KEEL-BREASTED BIRDS. 



243 



Order III. Longipennes (Long-winged}. General 

 Characteristics. This order includes the birds with ex- 

 tremely long, slender, and pointed wings, generally aquatic 

 but not submarine swimmers. They have wondrous pow- 

 ers of flight, and long, slender, and compressed bills ; the 

 anterior toes webbed. 



The Petrels (Procellariidce) are aquatic swimming 

 birds rarely approaching the shore, except to breed. The 

 bill is complicated, seemingly composed of several parts, 

 the nostrils opening from distinct tubes. The stormy 

 petrel,* or Mother Carey's chicken (P. pelagicd), is a typi- 

 cal form. 



The Giant Petrel (Ossifraga gigantea), of the South- 

 ern Ocean, is the largest. They and their large allies prey 

 upon young gulls. Among the Antarctic ice is found the 

 snow-white petrel (Pagodroma nivea). 



NOTE. About Kerguelen's Land the petrels invariably burrow in 

 the ground, those of the genus Oestrelata forming burrows six inches 

 in diameter, ending in a round chamber in which is placed the nest. 

 The solitary petrel forms a burrow ten feet long. The diving petrels 

 (Pelecanoides) also burrow and are wonderful divers, unlike others of 

 the tribe. 



The Prions are small, gray, petrel-like birds, with 

 boat-shaped bills, that honey-comb the ground at Kergue- 

 len's Land with their nests. 



The Shear- Waters (Puffinus) somewhat resemble 

 the petrels. The wandering shear-water is common on 

 the Atlantic coast, and attains the length of twenty inches, 

 the wing fourteen inches. The Antarctic species burrow, 

 the peat-beds at Tristan da Cunha being entirely honey- 

 combed by them. The European species breed on the 

 rocks and in rabbit-burrows. The largest member of 

 the family is the albatross (Fig. 278), common in the 



* Petrels when placed upon the deck of a vessel have great difficulty 

 in rising. 



