. Key to North American birds; containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary . ^ grade into each other; four of them are abundantlyrepresented on our coasts. The fulmars are large gull-like species (one of themmight be taken for a gull were it not for the nostrils), usually white with a darkermantle, the tail large, well formed (of 14-16 feathers), the nasal case prominent,with a thin partition. They shade into the group of which the genus yEstrelata istypical, embracing a large number
. Key to North American birds; containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary . ^ grade into each other; four of them are abundantlyrepresented on our coasts. The fulmars are large gull-like species (one of themmight be taken for a gull were it not for the nostrils), usually white with a darkermantle, the tail large, well formed (of 14-16 feathers), the nasal case prominent,with a thin partition. They shade into the group of which the genus yEstrelata istypical, embracing a large number of medium sized species, chiefly of Southernseas, in which the bill is short, stout, very strongly hooked, with prominent nasalcase ; the tail rather long, usually graduated. The shearwaters have the bill longerthan usual, comparatively slender, with short low nasal case, obliquely truncate atthe end, and the partition between the nostrils thick ; the tail short aud rounded;. PEOCELLAEIIDiE, PETRELS. GEN. 298-300. 327 the wings extremely long; the feet large. The elegant little Mother Careyschickens or stormy petrels (genus Thalassklroma ol authors; gen. 303-8,beyond) are a fourth group, marked by their small size, slight build, and othercharacters ; their flight is peculiarly airy and flick-ering, more like that of a butterfly than of ordinarybirds ; they are almost always seen on wing, appearto swim little if any, and some, if not all, breed inholes in the ground, apparently like other petrels they gather in troops aboutvessels at sea, often following their course for manymiles, to pick up the refuse of the cooks of them, like gen. 307, have remarkably- longleos, with fused scutella, flat obtuse claws, and the , ,, .... , , „ FIG. 20D. stormy Petrel (Leacha). liallux exceedingly mmute ; in the rest, the leet are of an ordinary character. The exotic genus Prion typifies a fifth group, of fiveor six species ; here the bil
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