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FAMILY XLIV. — ALCINiE. AUKS. 
Bill not longer than the head, much compressed, generally very high, tn 
the species approaching the next family rather slender. Nostrils small, 
linear, basal, and sub-marginal. Head large, broadly ovate, anteriorly nar- 
rowed ; neck short and thick ; body full, compact, ovate, or somewhat 
elongated. Feet short, rather stout, placed far behind ; tibia bare for a short 
space ; tarsus very short, compressed, anteriorly scutellate ; toes three, of 
moderate length, scutellate, webbed. Claws strong, arched, acute. Plumage 
dense, blended, soft. Wings small, narrow, pointed. Tail very short. 
Tongue slender, trigonal; oesophagus very wide, within the thorax extremely 
dilated ; stomach rather large, muscular, with the epithelium dense and lon- 
gitudinally rugous ; intestine long and wide ; coeca of moderate size. Trachea 
simple, with a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. Egg generally 
single. 
Genus I.— MORMON, llliger. PUFFIN. 
Bill about the length of the head, -nearly as high as long, exceedingly 
compressed, at the base as high as the head, obliquely furrowed on the sides ; 
upper mandible with a horny dotted rim along the basal margin ; its dorsal 
line decurved from the base, the ridge narrow, at the base rounded, the sides 
rapidly sloped, with three or four curved oblique grooves, the edges sharp, 
their outline nearly straight, the tip deflected, very narrow, but obtuse ; 
lower mandible with the angle very narrow, and so placed that the base of 
the bill is inflected beyond the perpendicular, the dorsal line a little convex 
at first, towards the end ascending, and nearly straight, the sides perpen- 
dicular, the edges sharp ; the tip very narrow, obliquely truncate ; gap-line 
extending downwards a little beyond the base of the bill, and furnished with 
a soft corrugated extensile membrane. Nostrils marginal, linear, direct, in 
the horny part of the bill. Head large, roundish-ovate ; neck short and 
thick ; body full and rounded. Feet short, rather stout, placed far behind, 
