ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
THE GULLS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE AUKS, PUFFINS, AND MURRES
(Family Alcidce)
As already pointed out, the members of the present group agree in all essential anatomical characters with the Laridm, but are distinguished at once by the complete absence of the hind toe, and a two-notched instead of a four-notched sternum. They are for the most part medium-sized or small birds with a stocky, somewhat compressed body and large head, mostly rather short but pointed wings (the Great Auk is a notable exception), so that when on land their attitude is more nearly erect than is that of Gulls and Terns.
The anterior toes are fully webbed and armed with sharp, claw-like nails, for these birds are expert swimmers and divers, while the tail is always short though of normal composition, and the bill extremely variable, as will be shown later. The sexes are alike in coloration and the young are little different, but there is often considerable difference between the summer and winter plumage.
The members of this family are without exception maritime, the major portion of their lives being spent on the open ocean, often at a great distance from shore, the land being visited only during the short nesting season.
They are confined exclusively to the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, where they fill in a measure the place occupied by the Penguins in the opposite hemisphere, but not a single species reaches into or beyond the tropics.
The habits of the group are remarkably similar, as they secure their food of fish, crustaceans, and other aquatic life in the open sea, and nest, often in communities of vast size, on the rocky shores and precipitous cliffs of the Arctic islands and coasts.
The egg is usually single, though in the Guillemots there may be as many as three, and both birds and eggs are of supreme importance to the natives of the far North, supplying both food and clothing.
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