SYNOPSIS OF ORDERS AND FAMILIES. 
Family 6. SKIMMERS. RYNCHOPIDA. 
Toes four, three front ones webbed; bill thin and blade like, the maxilla longer than 
the mandible; tail slightly forked. 
ORDER III. ALrsarrossEs, SHEARWATERS, PETRELS, Erc. TUBI- 
NARES. 
(2 families, 30 species, 1 subspecies.) 
Sea-birds keeping, as a rule, well off shore, and flying low, near the 
water, often skimming over the waves. Bill, with upper mandible 
hooked; nostrils opening through tubes; wings long and pointed; tail 
short; feet webbed; hind-toe rudimentary or absent. Color usually 
gray or black and white; no bright markings. 
BILL OF SHORT-TAILED ALBATROSS. 
Family 7, ALBATROSSES. DIOMEDEIDA. 
Nostrils opening through tubes, separated and on either side of the bill. 
(Gye ue, 
N\A \\ 
\ 
; SS 
FULMAR. LEACH PETREL. 
Family 8. FULMARS, PETRELS. AND SHEARWATERS, PROCELLARIIDE. 
Nostrils joined and situated on top of the bill. 
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