396 
CHAPTER XIX. 
Longipennes ; Long- winged. — Skimmers. — Singular Bill. — Terns, 
or Sea-Swallows — Anecdote of. — Gulls — Capacity for endur- 
ing Cold — Voracious feeders — Breeding Places. — South Stack 
described. — Albatross — Roaming Habits. — Tristan D’Acunha 
— Resort for Breeding — Voracity. — Petrels — Nests — Feed at 
Night — Superstition of Sailors respecting. — Brevipennes; 
Short- winged. — Divers. — Crested Glebe — Great Destroyers of 
Fish. — Guillemots. — Razor-Bills. — Puffins and Auks. 
Table XXIX. (See p. 23.) 
Order 6. Palmipedes. — Tribe 3. Longipennes. 
(Long -winged.) 
^PHIS tribe comprises : — 1. Rhynchops, or Skimmers 
2. Sterna, Terns ; 3. Larus, Gulls ; 4. Diomedea, Alba- 
tross ; 5. Procellaria, Petrels. 
All these are long -winged birds, proper to tbe main 
ocean, and, by means of their powers of flight, are spread 
widely over the world. They may be known by either 
having no back toe at all, or by that toe being free, — 
that is, not united with the others by a membrane, form- 
ing one large web, as in the preceding tribe ; and by their 
bill, without indentations, but bent at the end, as in 
the Procellaria, or Petrels, the extremity of which seems 
to consist of a piece fastened bn, or pointed, as in all the 
rest. 
The Skimmer (Rhynchops) derives its name from the 
way in which it feeds, flying generally so close to the water, 
that the under mandible just skims below the surface, while 
the upper is kept wide open, so that on its meeting with 
any floating substance, it closes immediately upon it. It is 
a bird with little feet, long wings, and a forked tail ; but its 
bill is so extraordinary, that there is no mistaking it for the 
