276 ELHMBNTS OF OENITHOLOGT. 



bill ^, the Turnstones, and various other forms. The second 

 family is composed of the Jacanas ', whence it is termed Par- 

 ridw. The third family includes the Terns ' and that singular 

 species the Skimmer *. It is the family Sternidm. The foutth 

 and last family, Laridce, includes the GuUs ', with the Eobber- 

 guUs or Skuas. 



The thirteenth order, the Tuhinares, with about 115 species, 

 has the following characters :— 



Order XIII. TITBHSTAEES. 



Nostrils produced externally into tubes ; young fed by the 

 parents for some time in the nest ; nasals holorhinal ; dorsal 

 vertebrae heterocoelous ; haJlux absent or reduced to one pha- 

 lanx, the other toes directed forwards ; spinal feather-tract well 

 defined on neck ; oil-gland tufted ; basipterygoid processes pre- 

 sent or absent. 



This order contains but two families, which are named respec- 

 tively from the Petrels " and the Albatrosses — the first Pro- 

 cellariidce and the second Diomedeidce. The genus Pelecanoides is 

 by some deemed a distinct family, on account of its short wings 

 and the entire absence of a hind toe. 



The fourteenth order, Pygopodiformes, contains 75 species 

 in two suborders, which may be respectively termed, 1. Pygo- 

 podes and 2. Alcce. Their characters may stand thus : — 



Order XIV. PTG0P0DIF0EME8. 

 Toung almost always born covered with down or feathers ; 

 they may or may not run about or swim in a few hours ; hallux ' 

 very small or absent ; palate schizognathous ; spinal feather- 

 tract forked on the upper back or not defined on the neck ; 

 fontanelles sometimes present in the lateral occipital bones ; 

 tail small or all but absent ; thigh, tarsus, and foot short ; 

 toes webbed or lobed ; wing short ; no basipterygoid processes. 



1 P. 61. ' P. 62. ' P. 30. 



* P. 30. » P. 29. ' P. 31. 



